Although telecom providers made a public announcement about the launch in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government is concerned about the slow pace of 5G implementation across the nation. Top mobile operators, significant smartphone manufacturers, and other infrastructure suppliers have now been called in to discuss the delays.
Top sources in department of telecom (DoT) stated that the government wants to take stock of the situation, especially as it had allocated 5G spectrum frequencies in a record time after the completion of auctions on August 1. “We want to understand the reasons which are causing delays, and if these can be sorted out with our intervention,” a source said.
On October 1, Airtel announced a deployment in eight cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Varanasi, at the annual India Mobile Congress, where the Prime Minister was also present. However, Airtel has not been able to provide full-fledged 5G services in the targeted locations. Many officials are blaming the testing procedures used by manufacturers of mobile devices.
While the government and the industry try to sort out the matter, mobile operators have squarely blamed device makers in private conversations. Mobile operators argue device makers are yet to provide software upgrades to a majority of 5G smartphones to read the new frequency bands.
Adani company gets licence
Adani Data Network has been granted unified licence for access services, which enables it to provide all telecom services in the country, according to two official sources. Gautam Adani-led Adani Group entered the telecom sector after buying spectrum in the recent auction. “Adani Data Networks has been granted UL (AS),” a source said.
