When will India get 6G: Here's the telecom minister's response
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that 6G technology is expected to launch in India around 2029-2030. 100 patents have already been acquired for this technology. The minister added that the rollout of the 5G network, which started in October 2022, in the country has been the fastest in the world. How different is 6G from 5G? Let's find out.
Why does this story matter?
While the deployment of 5G is still an ongoing process across the world, some nations, like our own and South Korea are looking at 6G technology. South Korea, which is one of the world's major technology hubs, is planning to introduce 6G services by 2028, which could establish it as a forerunner in the race.
What will the 6G technology offer?
6G network will use higher frequencies than 5G and is supposed to be 100 times faster. It is claimed to deliver speeds of up to 1Tbps. You will be able to download 142 hours of high-quality Netflix videos every second with 6G. For reference, 5G offers speeds of up to 10Gbps, 30 times faster than the speed of 4G LTE-Advanced (300Mbps).
Vaishnaw also said that India's 5G rollout was the fastest
With regard to the 5G rollout in India, Vaishnaw said the target was to cover 200 cities by December 2023, but 5G services have already been launched in 397 cities. "Nobody in the world has seen such a rapid rollout of 5G," he said.
Vodafone Idea and BSNL do not offer 5G as yet
At present, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel offer 5G services in India. Vodafone Idea and BSNL do not offer 5G as yet. Jio has covered about 365 cities where as Airtel 5G is live in about 270 locations. Both telcos commenced their 5G rollout in October 2022. Jio 5G network works on standalone 5G architecture while Airtel 5G operates on non-standalone 5G technology.
300mn users are estimated to use 5G by March 2025
According to reports by CRISIL, about a third of wireless data users in India, which is around 300 million users, are expected to use 5G services by March 2025, up from the 20-25 million estimated in March 2023.
