Airtel 5G Rollout Starts Soon, Existing SIMs Will Support 5G Network

Last month, major telecom network providers including Airtel, Vodafone and Jio announced that they will bring 5G in the coming months. Now, Airtel has announced that 5G will be available within a month.

With a plan to cover all major metropolitan cities by the end of the year, the network provider said that 5G will be available in all urban areas of the country by the end of 2023. In addition, the company said that 5G will be available in towns and cities. key rural areas by March 2024.

Airtel has also announced that everyone who upgraded their SIM to 4G will not need to upgrade their SIMs as it already supports 5G. Those interested in knowing if and when their area will get 5G can check on the Airtel Thanks app to find out if their city and phone are 5G ready. Please note that the feature will only be activated after 5G is launched.

During the 5G spectrum bidding process, Airtel spent Rs 43,084 crore and paid installments over the next four years, which is equivalent to around Rs 8,312.4 crore. It is working in partnership with Nokia, Samsung and Ericsson to establish a 5G infrastructure in the country. It seems that Airtel will not install the infrastructure from scratch and will use non-standalone 5G, while Jio will use standalone 5G, which offers more speed.

The biggest spender in the auction, Reliance Jio, also announced during its Annual General Meeting (AGM) that it will launch 5G in major cities sometime in October this year.