Indian telcos Airtel and Jio will first launch 5G services in October 2022.
Indian telecom companies Bharati Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm are likely to scrap unlimited 5G data plans in the second half of 2024 and charge at least 5-10% more than current 4G rates, a local newspaper says. reported. economic times report.
The move is aimed at monetizing 5G technology and boosting revenue growth, analysts said, the report said.
Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharati Airtel launched 5G services in India in October 2022 and have been offering unlimited 5G services on existing 4G tariffs since then. However, as 5G technology rolls out at the national level, telcos are now aiming to focus more on monetization.
The report cited Jefferies’ memo and said Airtel and Jio will increase their 5G prices by 5-10% compared to their current 4G plans to increase penetration and increase market share in the 5G segment. He pointed out that there is a possibility of providing additional data of 30-40% while increasing the amount by 30% to 40%. .
The report also added that mobile phone charges are likely to rise by at least 20% in the third quarter of 2024, with Airtel being the first operator to increase prices, followed by Vodafone Idea and Jio. said.
Reliance Jio Infocomm recently completed the rollout of 5G technology in India last month, according to company chairman Mukesh Ambani. During a presentation at the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024, the executive said Jio’s 5G network is now reaching every town and city across India.
Reliance Jio Infocomm is rapidly expanding its 5G network using Standalone (SA) architecture starting October 2022.
Reliance Jio had earlier secured a mix of radio spectrum for 5G across 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz bands. Jio is the only Indian operator with spectrum in the 700 MHz band.
Bharti Airtel recently announced that its 5G service called ‘Airtel 5G Plus’ is already accessible in all districts and union territories of India.
Bharti Airtel had earlier announced that it reached 50 million unique 5G customers on its network in September. Airtel has rolled out 5G services in 5,000 towns and 20,000 villages across India and plans to cover the entire country with the technology by March 2024, said company president Sunil Bharti Mittal. announced.
Airtel currently uses equipment from Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung to offer its 5G service. Indian telecom operators had secured a total of 19,800 MHz of spectrum in the 900MHz, 1.8GHz, 2.1GHz, 3.3GHz and 26GHz bands in the previous auction conducted by the Indian government. The telco is offering 5G through the 5G NSA architecture.
Meanwhile, recent reports suggest that Vodafone Idea is already offering 5G services in some places in Pune and Delhi.
The information was reportedly provided by the company on its website. However, the carrier has not yet made any official announcement regarding the launch of 5G services. At the moment, Vodafone Idea has not officially revealed its 5G rollout plans.
In June 2023, Vodafone Idea confirmed that it had held “advanced discussions” with a number of vendors to define the final strategy for 5G deployment in India.
