5G in India: The Complete Truth
We'll be talking about 5G in India today, which is a crucial subject. 5G smartphones have been introduced back-to-back in the Indian smartphone market. There isn't a single brand that hasn't released a 5G phone into the market. Almost all brands, including Xiaomi, Realme, Samsung, and even Apple, are moving toward releasing 5G devices. All of our readers must understand what 5G is and how it will benefit them as consumers. Additionally, our readers should be informed of the precise date when 5G will be launched in India as well as the compatible devices. This post will provide answers to all of these queries and clear up any uncertainty our readers may be experiencing.
What is 5G?
The fifth generation of wireless mobile networks is known as 5G. You may have previously used 4G, 3G, all of which began with 1G, and 2G after that. Finally, 5G will shortly go live and has already done so in over 60 nations. 5G is more about capacity, bandwidth, and a uniform, consistent network than it is about just high speeds. This implies that the network on your phone should be reachable everywhere. Everyone and everything will be connected by 5G, which will offer ultra-fast speeds, minimal latency, and increased capacity.
For instance, if a 5G tower is built in a heavily populated location, constant performance will be provided to the greatest number of users if 5G is distributed evenly. More dependability and enhanced availability are promised by 5G. This simply implies that 5G will be accessible and that you will have a solid network there as well, even in very remote regions. In the near future, 5G will be crucial and beneficial.
The majority of the 5G spectrum was going to be delivered in India by Ericsson and Huawei, but things have changed. Jio, Airtel, and Vi, India's top three network operators, have chosen to launch 5G locally in India in accordance with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat idea. In India, 5G trials have already started, and it is expected that by January 2022, spectrum bidding will be finished, and one year later, India will implement 5G. Do you believe your smartphone will acquire a 1Gbps download speed as soon as 5G is deployed? Well, 5G bands are the reason why this isn't the case.
Now what 5G bands mean?
Low-frequency bands, medium-range frequency bands, and high-frequency bands are the three main bands used for 5G, although not all bands are created equal. Low and Mid band frequencies are under the Sub-GHz category, which is akin to the Sub-6 GHz category for the 4G LTE network. The advantage of low band 5G networks, however, is that they have a greater range, which means the coverage's range is significantly greater in low band frequencies.
While low band 5G networks will offer up to 100Mbps of average internet speed, 4G networks only offer 12 to 13Mbps. This is unquestionably an improvement because it will enable consumers to instantly download any movies and games.
But this isn't the speed we've been hoping for, and it's not the speed the TV ads boasted about either. Let's examine the genuine 5G speed that everyone has been waiting for. High band frequencies will be used by 5G, commonly referred to as mmWave technology.
The frequency range for high-speed internet is up to 24 GHz. The advantage of this is that consumers will obtain a staggering average speed of 1 Gbps, which can also reach 20 Gbps. The range of coverage is still constrained nevertheless.
For instance, installing a 5G cell tower at extremely near ranges is not realistically feasible if you wish to use 5G at high bandwidth or with mmWave technology. This is the reason why 5G mmWave technology is difficult to implement globally.
Overall, the 5G mmWave technology will provide you with excellent internet speed as well as never-before-seen upload and download speeds. Although 5G mmWave technology has the potential to revolutionise how we use the internet, there is currently no information on its introduction in India.
In India, which 5G bands will be accessible?
Even before the 5G network was made available to Indian users, numerous different brands released a number of 5G smartphones in the country. These are the cellphones that only support low band frequencies or are limited to sub-6 GHz bands. These phones have N41, N77, or N78 bands, which only work at low frequencies. Even the top models in India only support sub-6 GHz bands. For instance, the US version of the OnePlus 9 Pro supports the 5G mmWave bands N258, N260, and N261, but the Indian version of the device has N41 and N78 bands. High frequencies are used to operate these bands.
What will the difference in speed be?
It is certain that once 5G is implemented, there will be a speed disparity. We'll clarify how big of a change in speed we'll actually notice, though. Installing a speed test app on your phone today will reveal a 4G LTE network speed of 10 – 12 Mbps, with a maximum of 20 Mbps which is the browsing speed, not the download speed. For instance, if your browsing speed is 20 Mbps, your download speed on a 4G LTE network will be about 2 Mbps.
However, when it comes to 5G networks, you can expect to receive roughly 15-20Mbps of download speed whenever 5G is introduced in India, compared to 90-100Mbps of browsing speed on low frequency bands. After the introduction of 5G, there will be a significant, abrupt change in how the internet operates.
4G vs. 4G+ vs. 5G
With carrier aggregation, we were able to test the 4G+ network at speeds of 80 to 90 Mbps. In contrast, 5G networks will offer speeds of 100 to 150 Mbps in low band frequencies, so there may not be much of a speed difference between 4G+ and 5G. The speed test findings, however, were as follows when we talk about the USA, where 5G has already been installed and people have been using it for more than a year. Verizon and AT&T both recorded download speeds of 65 to 70 Mbps, while Sprint customers also experienced speeds of 70 to 75 Mbps.
However, since some cities have access to mmWave 5G bands, download speeds have increased significantly. Verizon now offers download speeds of up to 600 Mbps, and some users even assert that the speed can reach 1 Gbps. The implication is that your smartphone needs 5G mmWave bands installed if you want to experience such fast speeds.
However, we already covered how challenging it will be to deploy the mmWave bands in India. It will take a long time because 5G mmWave technology's penetration power is quite low and the coverage distance is also very short. India has a vast amount of land to cover for networks, as well as a dense population.
Additionally, there is a lot of congestion, so installing mmWave technology would be extremely expensive up front and produce subpar results. Due to this, we may predict that only India will support Sub-6 GHz bands, but 5G carrier aggregation will undoubtedly be implemented. Simply said, you will be able to utilise 5G+ in the same manner that you have been using 4G+ in the future.
When will 5G reach India?
We are all interested in when 5G will be commercially available in India. Everyone is anxiously anticipating the internet improvement. Let's look at the top 3 telecom providers in India and their plans for the introduction of 5G.
Recently, Airtel conducted a 5G service test over a commercial network in their Hyderabad facility. Airtel asserts that they are prepared and are only awaiting the release of the spectrum. The business also asserts that Airtel will be prepared to provide its subscribers with 5G network services within 6 to 8 months of the spectrum rollout. To hasten the rollout of 5G services in India, Airtel has even partnered with Qualcomm.
After the Indian spectrum rollout takes place in 6 to 8 months, Airtel will start offering 5G services.
Reliance Jio typically makes all of its major choices public during its annual general meeting, but due to the epidemic, Jio is already behind schedule and half of the year 2021 has already passed. This suggests that Jio's 5G rollout may occur between July and September 2022. After then, we will need to monitor when the 5G service will be available to customers.
While Vi (Vodafone and Idea) assert that their network is already as robust as 5G, they believe it will be exceedingly challenging to introduce 5G services in India given the current state of the world. Vodafone might, however, make a formal statement following the spectrum rollout in January 2022.
Vi has not yet done any 5G experiments in India. Vi has provided us with no additional information to date, and their 5G launch programme has not received any updates.
This is the last call, and in the piece above, we've covered everything we know about the debut of 5G in India as well as its bandwidths and speeds.
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