Jio, India’s largest telecom company, today confirmed that it plans to roll out its 5G service in the country in the second half of 2021. Speaking at the virtual India Mobile Congress 2020 today, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said that Jio’s 5G service will use indigenously-developed network, hardware, and technology components (via LiveMint).
It is worth noting, however, that the Indian government is yet to award 5G spectrum. Due to the poor financial health of the industry, India has delayed 5G auctions until the first quarter of 2021. Airtel, which is Jio’s biggest competitor, recently said that it will not bid for 5G spectrum if the reserve price is high.
Back in October, Jio announced that it hit 1Gbps throughput in 5G trials by leveraging Qualcomm’s radio access solution on the Jio 5GNR solution. While there aren’t a lot of 5G phones on sale in India right now, things are expected to change once Qualcomm rolls out its first 5G-enabled Snapdragon 400 series chip early next year.
Jio is also rumored to be working closely with Google to launch an affordable 4G Android phones in India sometime in the first quarter of 2021. The phone is expected to be priced under ₹4,000 ($54). Sadly, however, there’s no word yet on the specs of the upcoming entry-level phone.
