Vi May Launch 5G Services in June in India

Vodafone Idea, according to reports, is all set to launch its 5G services across the country soon. As reported by The New Indian Express, they're in final stages of talks with banks to secure funding for the same.

As per a senior official from the Department of Telecommunication (DoT), the talks should get done by June, and the funding should come through by then as well. Vi is expected to launch the 5G services in the same month too.

Vodafone Idea Likely to Secure Funding by June

According to reports, the company has cleared the licensing fee for the third quarter and has even made partial payment for the fourth quarter.

While suffering from massive amounts of debt, Vi had been trying to secure funding from the market for a while now, but without much headway. According to the company, they had been unable to roll out their 5G services sooner due to delay at the government's end in converting interest dues into equity.

The official from DoT also stated that Vodafone Idea's entry into the 5G provider space will prevent a duopoly. So far, rival telcos, Jio and Airtel had been rapidly expanding their 5G coverage across the country. The prevention of a duopoly by Airtel and Jio is likely to be of help to consumers.

A separate report also said that Finnish company Nokia may be in conversations with Vodafone Idea to help them with 5G networking equipment. They are also presently the service providers for Airtel and Jio.

5G Services Have Been Rolled Out by Airtel and Jio

At present, 5G services are available in all metro cities, from telco providers Jio and Airtel. On one-hand Jio offers standalone 5G technology (SA), Airtel has opted for non-standalone 5G technology (NSA). There has been no information yet on which of the models Vi will be opting for.

From the technology point of view, standalone 5G technology or SA definitely has a competitive advantage over NSA 5G technology and offers lower latency along with higher download and upload speeds, NSA is easier to implement, and it can make use of existing 4G networking hardware, which reduces the cost of deployment when compared to SA.