5G In India: When Does It Arrive On Your Phone?

Bharti Airtel is launching 5G services in eight cities, including four metros, on Saturday and will progressively cover the entire country by March 2024, its chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 5G services across 13 cities in India at an event today, though it will only be available to the public after Diwali. 

The top players -- Mukesh Ambani of Reliance, Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Airtel, and Kumar Mangalam Birla of Vodafone Idea -- will start with select cities after Diwali but have ambitious targets for nationwide coverage.

Mukesh Ambani, head of the Reliance group which owns Jio, announced that his telecom firm will launch 5G services across the country by December 2023. He said Jio is rapidly progressing to roll out 5G services within this month.

India's biggest ever auction of telecom spectrum held recently had received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore of bids, with Mukesh Ambani's Jio cornering nearly half of all the airwaves sold with a Rs 88,078 crore bid. RIL during its Annual General Meeting (AGM) confirmed that it would launch in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata by Diwali this year. It also plans to bring more affordable 5G phones to the market in partnership with Google.