DoT to ask Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea to start 5G trials in rural areas

The Department of Telecommunications is expected to telecom operators including VI, Airtel and Reliance Jio to start trials of 5G technology in rural areas.

The Department of Telecommunications is expected to telecom operators including VI, Airtel and Reliance Jio to start trials of 5G technology in rural areas. The companies have already received permission to conduct 5G trials in urban areas. It is being reported that stated-owned telecom firm MTNL will also get permission to conduct 5G trials once it submits the fee of Rs 5000. "The DoT will ask telecom operators to include a rural area for testing 5G applications along with their urban centres.MTNL has teamed up with C-DoT for conducting 5G trials in Delhi. They will conduct a 5G test near Najafgarh as well. They will be given a trial spectrum once they deposit the fees,” a government official was quoted as saying by PTI. The report further states that so far the trials of 5G with Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and C-DOT have been approved by the DoT. None of the Chinese vendors have received any approval from the DoT as of now. Reliance Jio will apparently conduct trials using its own technology along with Samsung network gears, a source told the news agency.