DoT Wants Telcos To Conduct 5G Trials In Rural Areas

The DoT is expected to ask Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone-Idea to conduct trials in the rural areas alongside urban centres. Besides, the telecom ministry announced that telcos should complete 5G trials in the next six months in the country.

The state-run telecom operators BSNL and MTNL are likely to get spectrum once they submit only Rs. 5,000, required for conducting trials.

"The DoT will ask telecom operators to include a rural area for testing 5G applications along with their urban centres. MTNL has teamed up with C-DoT for conducting 5G trials in Delhi. They will conduct a 5G test near Najafgarh as well. They will be given a trial spectrum once they deposit the fees," the official was quoted by PTI.

Spectrum Bands Available For The 5G Trials

Notably, the telecom ministry allocated several bands for testing the 5G networks in the country. In addition, the Department of Telecommunication approved Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, and C-DOT for testing the 5G network. However, Chinese firms like Huawei and ZTE have been not allowed to participate in the trials.

Telecom Operators And Their 5G Trials Partners

The report also pointed out that Reliance Jio is the only telecom operator that is conducting trials on its own and with Samsung; however, both companies have not announced anything on the 5G trials front.

The report states that Airtel might conduct 5G trials in Delhi, Bengaluru, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Furthermore, the report said trials will test applications in 5G Indian settings in telemedicine, drone-based agriculture monitoring, and tele-education.

Telecom operators are likely to test several 5G devices on their network. Interestingly, the time given for trials is six months; however, telcos need to procure equipment in two months. According to the telecom ministry, 5G can deliver 10 times better speed than the current network along with three times better spectrum efficiency.

5G Trials Will Be Beneficial In Rural Areas

It is worth noting that a large number of the population resides in rural areas, so we believe that trials of any new technology in these areas might be beneficial for the agriculture sector. In fact, 5G use might play important role in the agriculture sector. In addition, we assume that the 600 MHz band is also a good option for the 5G trials.