- Vodafone Idea has announced a partnership with OnePlus to make 5G more accessible.
- OnePlus 10T, OnePlus 10 Pro, OnePlus 10R, OnePlus Nord 2T, OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite, and Nord CE 2 have been used to test the 5G spectrum bands.
- The partnership announcement comes ahead of the India Mobile Congress 2022.
On Wednesday, Vodafone Idea (Vi) announced that it has partnered with OnePlus to make 5G smartphones accessible to users in India. Apparently, the OnePlus 10T, OnePlus 10 Pro, OnePlus 10R, OnePlus Nord 2T, OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite, and Nord CE 2 have been used to test the 5G spectrum bands acquired by Vodafone Idea during the mega auction. The move from Vi makes sense considering OnePlus is one of the leading 5G brands in online channels in the Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000 segment in H1 of 2022.
This partnership announcement comes ahead of the India Mobile Congress 2022, which is set for October 1st. PM Modi will launch 5G services in India on occasion. In addition to OnePlus, Vi has said it will continue to partner with various OEM brands to change its 4G customers to upgrade their phones for 5G readiness.
Vi partners with OnePlus
Vi has tested the 5G network on OnePlus phones like the OnePlus 10T, OnePlus 10 Pro, OnePlus 10R, OnePlus Nord 2T, OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite, and Nord CE 2. During the 5G mega spectrum auction, the company bought 6,228 MHz of airwaves across 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2500MHz, 3300MHz, and 26GHz bands for Rs 18,799 crore.
Vodafone Idea hasn’t clearly mentioned a detailed roadmap for the rollout of its 5G network in the country. On the other hand, Jio and Airtel are gearing up launch their services in the next few weeks and complete the pan India availability by the end of next year. We can expect the services to be available in tier-1 cities in the initial phase and expand to villages and towns gradually.
Jio purchased the highest quantum of the spectrum of 24,740 MHz across the 700MHz, 800MHz, 1800MHz, 3300MHZ, and 26GHz bands at Rs 88,078 crores. Airtel has picked up 19,867MHz of spectrum across 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 3300MHz, and 26GHz bands at Rs 43,084 crore.
