DOT's national EMF portal (https://dot.dashboard.nic.in/DashboardF.aspx) notes Jio installed 99,897 BTS for its 5G network on 700 & 3500 MHz bands, while Airtel has just 22,219 BTS by the last week of March 2023. Jio has a definite advantage for 5G roll out, as it was India's first greenfield 4G player - rolling out 5G on its all-IP, next gen 4G network is easier. But Jio is also adding 3 cell sites per BTS while Airtel is installing on average 2 cell sites per BTS.
In comparison with Jio, Airtel has to work with its incumbent 2G/3G + 4G networks to upgrade them with 5G technology. At the same time Airtel is pretty slow. For eg, Kolkata which hosts 2G and 4G inauguration in the country, did not get 5G from Airtel during initial launches. In March 2023 Kolkata got 5G from Airtel and that too in selected areas. For Jio, 5G is for all, so faster and deeper roll out - while Airtel thinks 5G as add-on service over 4G, therefore they are very selective to launch 5G in cities. Though Airtel announced 5G roll out in 500 cities of the country on March 24, 2023 while Jio stands at 406 cities. But the reality is different - Jio has more widespread 5G coverage, while Airtel's 5G has patchy coverage.
Randeep Sekhon, CTO of Bharti Airtel targets to cover urban India with 5G completely by September 2023, while Jio aims to complete its 5G roll out across the country by December 2023.
Technically Jio and Airtel's 5G are different - Jio uses standalone (SA) 5G with 4G (so even 4G goes off, 5G will still continue to offer data and voice), hence branding it as 'True 5G', while Airtel complements its 4G network with non-standalone (NSA) 5G, dubbed as '5G Plus'.
Know more about Jio's 5G tech - https://www.jio.com/platforms/offerings/radio-platforms
While 5G networks in India are expanding rapidly, are the 5G adaption is really good among the masses? Well I think it's still in nascent stage, as because Jio did not allow everybody to jump into 5G bandwagon as soon as they launched it. They offered 5G to priority or selected customers with unlimited data (now get that with Rs 61 5G UL recharge) - that's a good point - to increase the network load gradually. With unlimited data offering to customers, Jio can also get insights of capabilities of its 5G network. In my personal experience Jio 5G can reach upto 1.3Gbps while average download speed is around 500Mbps (even Ookla data suggests that). But upload speed is not impressive - it stuck around 40-80Mbps most of the time. While Airtel's 5G Plus delivers around 250-300Mbps download speed. Airtel is also offering unlimited 5G to customers - trial of 5G still ongoing. While Vi is waiting to launch 5G, they complained to TRAI regarding these unlimited 5G offerings from Jio & Airtel, accusing them of predatory pricing.
Ookla (owns Speedtest.net) also notes down the same in their report, which says India's 5G is 25 times faster than 4G. The report, based on SpeedTest.net results generated by the users, also confirmed India’s mobile speeds increased by 115% which made India to go 49 places up on the Speedtest Global Index™ since launching 5G, from 118th in September 2022 to 69th in January 2023.
In brief both Airtel and Jio is yet to make revenue from 5G, while spending crores of capex to cover the country with 5G. Airtel is justified for slower, pocket-by-pocket NSA-5G roll out, as they have to keep existing 2G network as well, and they are keeping 4G as a core, to maintain profitable returns in medium term.
And Vi and BSNL are still waiting for funds and spectrum respectively.
|
|
Airtel |
Jio |
Vi |
|
n1 – 2100 MHz |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
n3 – 1800 MHz |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
n8 – 900 MHz |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
n28 – 700 MHz |
|
✔ |
|
|
n77/n78 –
3300-3500 MHz (C-band 5G) |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
n258 – 26 GHz
(mmWave 5G band) |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
The next step to push 5G in India is to bring affordable 5G smartphones at Rs 10K-15K price point with great battery life. Samsung recently launched Galaxy F14 with 5G support and 6000mAh battery at Rs 14,990. That's an good example of 5G phone for masses. In next two quarters I believe the 5G smartphone shipment will be atleast 3-5 times than present shipment. More sale will attract more price cut. At the same time, Indian smartphone makers should try their luck to get a cut in the 5G device market. The reason is with Jio's omnipresent 5G signals, 5G-FWA may be a reality. So smartphones and 5G-FWA devices - Indian companies may try their luck again.
Update: Jio is all set to introduce "Air Fiber" which will be a WiFi Hotspot device leveraging Jio's 5G network.
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