Vodafone Idea and Adani want more time to launch 5G services: report

Vodafone Idea and Adano 5G networks

When contacted, the telecom secretary K Rajaraman confirmed the development, albeit without disclosing the names of the companies. "We have received a couple of requests from companies (for an extension of the minimum rollout obligation of 5G). Those are under examination at this point in time," he said.

Adani Group bought spectrum worth Rs 212 crores in six circles and could either provide broadband services in any one area or connect any of its airports or port through data networks, said analysts. Vodafone Idea is the only telecom operator that has not launched 5G services as Jio and Airtel are rapidly expanding their availability in various parts of the country. 

Vi is currently testing the 5G services across cities like Delhi and Pune, where the telecom network has deployed 36 tower sites, said sources. The commercial deployment by Vodafone Idea will start once it places an order with the equipment makers.

"The company has made select 5G clusters in Delhi and Pune where it had partnered with various original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to test the compatibility of available 5G handsets. It has completed device testing of all major OEMs on its 5G network," Vodafone Idea said in its annual report for FY23.

Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra had recently said, "MRO (minimum rollout obligation) is more a compliance requirement and we will work on that, but we are looking for a wider coverage."

Vodafone Idea said that it will continue to make investments for expanding 4G coverage and capacity, especially in its 17 priority circles, and introduce 5G services once funding is in place. Airtel and Jio are yet to deploy 5G networks in the 26GHz band mainly due to the lack of a device ecosystem in the spectrum, said industry sources.

As per the year-one 5G roll-out obligations set by the government, the operators will have to commercially launch services anywhere in metro and non-metro circles. What this means is that in circles like Mumbai, the services can be made available in just one area and not the entire city, and in non-metro circles, the same needs to be done in at least one city.

According to data from DoT as of July 2nd, Airtel and Jio have deployed 275,256 5G BTS (base transceiver stations) in over 6,200 towns.