Reliance Jio and Airtel have launched their 5G services in various parts of the country. Starting today, Reliance Jio has rolled out its 5G service as a beat trial in four cities: Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Varanasi.
On other hand, Airtel 5G is available in eight cities: Delhi, Varanasi, Nagpur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai and Siliguri, which was launched on Saturday. It is to be noted that 5G-enabled smartphones can only support the high-speed 5G services from Jio and Airtel.
Therefore, those with 2G, 3G or 4G smartphones have to buy new phones to avail the service. Smartphone companies are offering 5G smartphones at discounted rates this festive season. Brands like Realme and Lava have even announced to launch 5G phones for under Rs 10,000.
But if your phone has 5G connectivity, then you are just a few steps away from availing the high-speed network.
Here are the steps to check if your phone supports 5G:
1. Go to settings app on your phone
2. Click on the 'Wi-Fi & Network' option
3. Go to 'SIM & Network' option
4. A list of all technologies will appear under the 'Preferred network type' option
5. If your phone supports 5G, it will be listed with other services like 2G/3G/4G/5G.
5G rollout
5G technology, which was formally launched by PM Narendra Modi on October 1, is expected to reach only select customers in the first phase. A couple of cities have been shortlisted for the first phase rollout. These include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune.
Gradually, other cities, Tier-II, Tier-III cities, and villages will get access to the next-gen network. The operators, Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone-Idea, and BSNL, have kept different targets to cover the entire country.
Airtel CEO Sunil Mittal had recently confirmed that 5G services will be available to pan-India by March 2024. On the other hand, Jio 5G will be available for everyone by December 2023.
As per reports, Bharti Airtel will be initially offering the 5G services at the same rate as 4G. Later on, a fresh new set of tariffs will be introduced. The company has reportedly placed the order for 5G gears with Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung immediately after the auctions were over earlier this year. On the other hand, Jio hasn’t shared its 5G tariffs.
Also read: Jio 5G service is now available: List of cities, Welcome Offer, eligible users and other key details
Also read: BSNL officially reveals 4G and 5G rollout details, to offer 5G plans at affordable prices