The Government is believed to have approved 13 applications for 5G trials, according to an ETTelecom report. The applications approved have reportedly kept out any Chinese players. The Government has earlier said that it had received 20 applications as of March 2021 for 5G trials from Vodafone Idea, MTNL, BSNL, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Jio.
Bharti Airtel had filed 7 applications, Reliance Jio had filed 5 applications, Vodafone Idea had filed 6 applications, and state owned BSNL and MTNL had filed 1 application each for 5G trials.
Sweden’s Ericsson, Finland’s Nokia, and USA’s Mavenir were among the manufacturers of 5G equipment based out of US and Europe who had tied up with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for 5G trials as per the Government back in March 2021.
According to ETTelecom, BSNL has tied up with C-DOT while Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Jio have tied up with other vendors including Ericsson and Nokia for 5G trials in different parts of the India.
The report further notes that the telecom service providers will soon be given airwaves in the 700 MHz spectrum band to use for trial purposes with some conditions attached.
“The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is in consultation with Ministries/Departments for development of India specific Use cases. DoT is considering to allow Telecom Service Providers to demonstrate 5G India specific Use cases in limited geographical area, for a limited period, in an isolated network environment and for non- commercial purposes. Steps have been initiated for trial of India specific Use cases,” said Sanjay Dhotre in Rajya Sabha in late March 2021.
Great info and ahead…appreciate !