TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ The government is engaged in talks with telecom firms for a launch of commercial 5G services in some cities by Independence Day and has assured them that spectrum auction will take place in April-May, providing them a three to four-month window for the rollout.
A top executive of a leading telecom gear company said the deadline was feasible in some cases. “It can be achieved in some cities as it will take us 4-6 weeks to deploy a network, once the equipment or components have reached India. “But to do so, we need commercial contracts with telcos to be finalised by January so we know what orders they are placing and in which circles or cities.
“We have to activate our supply chain, especially as there is a chip shortage,” he said. The executive said that the final orders, which include specific quantities such as how many radios to take in which band, can be tweaked in April based on the spectrum won.
