India has been among the best to adopt new technology across the world over in the domain of IT and Communication. According to a study, India, has is said to have recorded a three-fold increase in the number of smartphone users who own a 5G handset over the past two years, this has been with the keen anticipation of receiving the 5G technology at the very outset. The consumers in India, since the announcement of the 5G rollout by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 01 Oct 2022 at the IMC 2022 conference at New Delhi, India, have moved out to prospective Service Providers from their existing service providers to avail the facility on its launch. Statistics also project that over 70 percent of the consumers are looking forwards to better video streaming quality when they switch to 5G. This 5G roll out in India will also trigger an increase in the consumption of cloud gaming and high-resolution video streaming among other features.
The 5G roll out is not as simple as understood. The Smarphones need to support 5G Technology. Further, the Smartphone OEMs also have to push the essential Updates and the Patches to allow the 5G utilities to take-off. Subsequently, alongside the Tower upgrade and it dependent technology migration is also essential. The Service providers will also have to provide the software compliance and updates to the Smartphone. With regard to the SIM Card that is inserted in the Smartphone (Unless on an eSIM), one may or may not require a change or replacement (Depending on the riding technology and Software usage by the Service Provider).
The Government wants 5G handsets to be ready for the high-speed mobile broadband services launched on both standalone and non-standalone networks simultaneously by telecom service providers. Most Chinese smartphone brands including Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Realme have already rolled out updates to most of their Android handsets to enable 5G support on both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Samsung is expected to send out software updates by the middle of this month.
iPhone-maker Apple will meet members of the Department of Telecommunications, in the days to come, to intimate them about the public beta rollout of their upgrade to cater for their consumers to avail the facility of 5G. Apple will enable 5G for Indian users in the iOS beta programme as early as next week. Apple, has confirmed their actions, but has not disclosed the final date for the rollout. Apple has also confirmed that Apple’s iPhone 14, iPhone 13, and iPhone 12 series phones as well as the iPhone SE (3rd generation) models are compatible with 5G. These devices will be getting the beta software update as announced.
After the announcement by the Prime Minister; Reliance Jio and Airtel have launched their 5G services in select cities last month. Vodafone Idea, the third private player in the country’s telecom sector, has however, not yet revealed any concrete plans for its 5G rollout. Similarly, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is also not ready to roll out its 5G service in the country, however, the IT Minister has announce a strategic plan for the State Owned Service Provider, and will be taking the lead role for rollout of 5G especially in Rural India.
In an unconfirmed report from agencies, it has been reported that; Reliance Jio has recorded almost 600 Mbps median download speed on its 5G network in Delhi, while India’s overall 5G speed hit 500 Mbps as the country rolled out 5G services.
In a meeting held on 12 Oct 2022 at New Delhi, The Telecom Secretary and the MeitY Secretary in attendance also asked telecom manufacturers and telecom service providers to release software FOTA (Firmware Over-The-Air) upgrades for all 5G handsets. This upgrade is essential so that phones can be powered by standalone networks. Users can expect the upgrade to arrive on their phone at the earliest and users need to accept he upgrade and apply the same on their phone.