5G in India: Which cities have Airtel, Jio's 5G services?
The fifth-generation mobile network or 5G is now live in select parts of India. Telecom operators such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea are in a rush to capture the market by providing their services first to the customers. So, in which cities are the services available, and how to use them? Let us find out.
Jio will have complete roll-out by December 2023
Reliance Jio is emerging as the biggest player in this competition. As per its website, its "True 5G" service is offered in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Varanasi, Pune, Nathdwara, and all 33 district headquarters of Gujarat. The company claims that there will be a complete roll-out of 5G network by December 2023. Its data plans will reportedly start at Rs. 239.
Airtel 5G is currently offered in 13 cities
Jio's main competitor in India is Bharti Airtel. Airtel's 5G services are available in 13 cities including Bengaluru, Delhi, Guwahati, Pune, Patna, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Varanasi, Siliguri, Panipat, and Gurugram. As per the brand, the network will be widely available by 2024. Its plans are expected to cost the same as 4G ones.
Vi is still busy in conducting trials
Vodafone Idea (Vi) spent Rs. 18,799 crore on purchasing 6,228MHz of airwaves in the 1,800MHz, 2,100MHz, 2,500MHz, 3,300MHz, and 26GHz frequencies. It has been conducting 5G trials for over a year at locations like Delhi Airport, and Kandula Port in Gujarat. The company claims that it is planning to launch services in India soon but has not revealed a definite timeline.
How to enable 5G on phones?
Both Jio and Airtel claim that changing the SIM card on their smartphones is not required. Users can enjoy 5G services using existing 4G SIM cards, provided they have a 5G-enabled device. To manually enable 5G on a handset, head to 'Settings,' then 'SIM card and mobile networks,' followed by 'Preferred network type' and finally tap on '5G.'
