High-level panel to evaluate plan to roll out 5G services

NEW DELHI: India plans to roll out 5G services for consumers by 2020 and to achieve that objective, the government has set up a high-level forum that will evaluate and approve roadmaps and action plans to bring in the latest technology in the country.

The government has included ministries of telecom, information and technology, and science and technology, in the forum and has set aside a corpus of Rs 500 crore for research and development in 5G, top government officials said on Tuesday.

“We missed the opportunity to participate when the standards were being set for 3G and 4G, but don’t want to miss the 5G opportunity. Now when the standards are being set for 5G across the world, India will also participate in the process,” Minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha said.

The minister said that India is actively involved in setting 5G standards, which in turn will help the local industry. 5G technology will be leveraged for deployment of next-generation broadband infrastructure, through which the government aims to have 100% coverage of 10 Gbps broadband across urban India and 1 Gbps across rural India.

India wants to grab the 5G wave early on and has already begun consultations on holding auctions of 5G spectrum, which would be the first for the country where 4G adoption is still at a nascent stage.