Race to rollout 5G services in India.
                     RACE TO ROLLOUT 5G SERVICES IN INDIA
INTRODUCTION
 Globally, the deployment of 5G is gaining speed. 5 
G is partially accessible in 378 cities across 34 
countries.
 The system is projected to drive innovations in 
smart cities, autonomous vehicles, Industry 4.0, 
augmented reality, remote surgery and many more. 
Source: businessstandard.com
STRATEGIC ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL POWER
 In terms of strategic economic and political power, any 
nation that controls this technology is supposed to make 
a major leap over others. 
 This rising power struggle is exemplified by the new US 
sanctions to limit Huawei's access to semiconductors. 
 However, it is also an undeniable fact that Huawei has 
now been permitted in more than 50 countries as of 
October 2019.
Source: ps-engage.com
5G SERVICES IN INDIA
 The government is now promoting indigenous 
technologies that are free of Chinese technology to 
be built and implemented.
 India appears to be open to investments from 
Western countries such as Japan, South Korea and 
Australia, and other non-Chinese eastern neighbours.
Source: trak.in
INDIA AGAINST CHINA
 India was also open to the possibility of allowing 
the country's 5G trials to be carried out by 
Huawei and ZTE, another major Chinese firm. 
 The border tensions between the two nations 
ensued in June, however and the Government of 
India agreed to take a hard stand against 
Chinese hostility at all levels, particularly in the 
field of technology. 
Source: ps-engage.com
SELF RELIANT INDIA
 Department of Telecommunications (DoT) 
proposed leaving Huawei and ZTE out of the 
national 5G plans. 
 At about the same time, the concept of a 'self-
reliant' India was advocated by Prime Minister 
Narendra Modi to help the country recover better 
after the pandemic.
Source: tomorrowmakers.com
RACE TO ROLLOUT 5G IN INDIA
 The three dominant private telecommunications 
players in the country are currently Reliance Jio, 
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea. 
Source: 
telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.
com
RELIANCE 5G
 Earlier this year, Reliance, led by Mukesh 
Ambani, declared that it was ready to introduce 
a home-grown 5G network in India without a 
single Chinese component. 
 The company recently collaborated with 
Qualcomm, a semiconductor company 
headquartered in San Diego, to explore 5 G in 
India with speeds exceeding 1 Gbps successfully. 
Source: ps-engage.com
AIRTEL & VODAFONE-IDEA
 Similarly, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea have now 
partnered to be 5 G ready with European 
equipment manufacturers.
 Taking notice of these innovations, the Standing 
Parliamentary Committee on IT recently called 
on stakeholders from the private and public 
sector to be 5 G ready.
Source: economictimes.com
PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTATION
 The faster implementation of 5G in India appears 
to be hampered by two main problems. 
 First the price for spectrum in the 3400-3800 MHz 
band was set at US$ 70 million by the Telecom 
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). 
 Experts note that the price is higher than that of 
countries such as Italy (US$ 26 million), South Korea 
(US$ 18 million), the United Kingdom (US$ 10 
million, and Australia (US$ 5 million).
Source: dtnext.com
PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTATION CONT.
 Airtel and Vodafone-Idea, still burdened with 
debt, claim that such high costs would make it 
impossible for them to compete in the sale. 
 Reliance has also claimed that as a result of this 
its potential would be limited. Although the 
industry has asked TRAI to rethink its costs, it 
has been defended by the regulator.
Source: www.business-standard.com