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The buzz around 5G started in 2020, when we saw a massive increase in 5G phones in the market, along with the 5G network rollout in the global markets, like the US, UK, etc. However, the 5G wave in India, the world’s second-biggest market, has started picking up the heat ever since the news about the 5G auction came that happened in the last week of July 2022. Reliance Jio bought the highest 5G spectrum by spending INR 88,078 crores. Today we will discuss everything you need to know about Jio‘s 5G network in India, like launch date, supported bands, 5G plans, speed, covered cities, rollout schedule, and even Jio 5G phones. So without any further adieu, let’s get started.
Reliance Jio 5G In India: Everything You Need to Know
The Ambani Family behind Jio requires no introduction, as they have been part of India’s telco for over a decade. From the time of 2G, 3G, to 4G, they have played a major role in Indian Telecom Industry. Later after a separation in 2015, Mr. Mukesh Ambani brought Jio into play with a 4G revolution by offering fast speed network at dirt cheap prices. Now, with his son Mr. Akash Amabni handing the command, Jio is about to step into the next phase, i.e., Jio 5G. This article has covered everything you need to know about Jio 5G.
Mr. Akash Ambani (current chairman) with his father, Mr. Mukesh Ambani
Jio Spectrum Purchase
In July 2022, Reliance Jio became the highest bidder by acquiring a low band, mid-band, and mmWave spectrum, with an acquiring cost of INR 88,078 crores. As per terms of the spectrum auction, the spectrum payments have to be made over 20 equated annual installments, with interest computed at 7.2% per annum. The frequency bands acquired by Jio are:
- 700MHz,
- 800MHz,
- 1800MHz,
- 3300MHz,
- 26GHz
Jio 5G Area wise Spectrum
Out of these, 700MHz is the most interesting one, as being a low-powered band, it offers the maximum possible 5G range, along with fast speeds compared to 4G. This band will help provide 5G coverage to rural areas across India. Check out our detailed article about all 5G bands are supported in India area-wise. Below is the detailed chart of the Jio 5G spectrum spread across India in all 22 circles.
Credits: Reliance Jio
- Jio has the highest sub-GHz spectrum, with at least twice the 10 MHz contiguous spectrum in both 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands across each of the 22 circles.
- Jio is the only operator with at least twice the 10 MHz in the 1800 MHz band (with 2X20 MHz in six key circles), 40 MHz in the 2300 MHz band, and 100 MHz in the 3300 MHz band across all the 22 circles.
- In addition, Jio has the right to use 1,000 MHz in the millimeter wave band (26 GHz) in each of the 22 circles, which will be crucial to enable enterprise use cases and provide high-quality streaming services.
Note: For better understanding, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has divided India into 22 circles or geographical areas to make it easy to assign spectrum and allow communication. Within each specific telecom circle, the calls are treated as local, and those outside the zone are long-distance calls. If a telecom company wishes to operate in a specific circle, they need to buy a license/ spectrum for that circle via an auction process, which is exactly what happened in the 5G auction in India.
Jio 5G Launch Date
According to the Indian IT ministry, the 5G, and Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw (IT Minister of India), the 5G rollout should begin in India by late September or early October. However, Mr. Akash Ambani said they would celebrate ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ with a pan India 5G rollout. This hints that Jio may already be ready to start the rollout and will likely launch it on 15th August 2022, as the day marks 75 years of India’s Independence.
As it’s just a hint and no official statement, we should take it with a pinch of salt. If the service does launch on 15th August, it will likely be a pilot run in a few cities, like Delhi, Mumbai, etc. The phased full rollout is expected to start sometime near September or October, matching the words of Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw (IT Minister of India, continuing till next year for tier 2 and tier 3 cities and rural areas. If your phone supports 5G, you can enjoy the service as soon as it comes to your area.
Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw, IT Minister of India
Jio 5G Launch Rollout Schedule
The Jio 5G will cover all 22 circles in India to provide 5G services across all stated and cities. This rollout will be done in a phased manner, starting from tier 1 cities mentioned below, followed by tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
Tier 1 Cities: Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Jamnagar
Note: This list is non-exhaustive, meaning more nearby cities might get included once the rollout is officially announced. This list is based on targeted customer consumption and revenue potential, heat maps, 3D maps, and ray tracing technology used by Jio.
Will there be a 5G Sim Card?
As of now, no single telecom provider has stated a new 5G SIM card. However, it seems we won’t be required to get a new SIM card for 5G, unlike the transition phase from 2G to 3G, 3G to 4G. The same can be noticed in other countries, as no telecom has asked their users to get a new SIM to use 5G. Let me explain why.
2G network SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards used a dated network communication standard. Later on, when the world switched to 3G, we used USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module), based on 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standard, which had a backward and forward compatible base structure. Similarly, when 4G came, we shifted to LTE standard by 3GPP. Now, for 5G, the defining standard is 3GPP, as the major difference between 4G and 5G is speed.
So if your current SIM card works with 4G/LTE, you won’t be required to get a new sim card unless any telecom decides to operate on Non-Standalone 5G infrastructure. This is not the case in India; as of now, we will update this page if any official announcement comes around it.
5G Speed
The recent trials conducted by Jio in eight cities achieved different results across them. A 91Mobiles report shows that Jio’s 5G trial in Mumbai offered up to 8x faster download speeds than 4G’s bandwidth. It appears that Jio 5G can bring download speeds up to 420Mbps and 412 Mbps in upload speeds, a massive upgrade over 4G speeds in India. Now, we need to check how well it performs when it officially rolls out to the masses.
5G Prices
Don’t expect cheap prices for new 5G plans, as even the current price of 4G plans has been rising lately. We should expect at least a 15-20% increase in the 5G price. However, considering how Jio went aggressive with 4G, we should expect the base plan for Jio 5G to start somewhere around INR 350 for a month.
Jio 5G Phone Launch in India
Earlier, Jio confirmed they are working on a Jio 5G phone in partnership with Google to make India 2G mukt. This rumored phone is expected to launch later this year. According to a report from Android Central, it will come with a 6.5″ HD+ IPS LCD Display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G mobile platform, 4GB RAM paired with 32GB of Storage, 13MP dual rear cameras, 8MP front camera, 5000mAh Battery, 18W charging, and a side-mounted fingerprint reader. The report also states that the Jio Phone 5G will be priced around INR 9000-12000.
This could be a good time for Jio to bring a 5G phone, as we hear rumors that the Indian Government is planning to ban Chinese-origin phones under INR 12000 in the country.
Wrapping Up
So was all the information we have about the Jio 5G. Be it spectrum bought by company, expected launch date, rollout schedule and cities, whether you need a new SIM card, plan prices, speed improvement, and rumored Jio Phone 5G. I hope you found this article useful; if you did, make sure to like and share it. Check out the articles linked below, and stay tuned for tech tips and tricks.
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