New Delhi: Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said that 5G deployment across 20-25 towns and cities will start by the end of this year. He also added that as the new service is rolled out, India will continue to set benchmarks given the current data prices being lower than the global average. Speaking at 'TV9 What India Thinks Today Global Summit', the minister that other countries are keen on giving preference to 4G and 5G technologies developed by India.
The 5G deployment will commence from August-September, Vaishnaw said.
Asked about the pricing of the 5G services, he said, “We are already the lowest in the world, at least by a factor of 10X...10X we are cheaper than the world, that same trend will be in other areas too.”
Notably, the data rates in India are at about USD 2 against the global average of USD 25.
"The telecom network supporting mobile phones has to be a trusted network. India's name is on the top of the list of trusted network providers. When India develops a technology, entire world is interested in it," Vaishnaw said.
He further said that in a bid to address the issue of unsolicited calls, India is working on a regulation that will enable KYC-identity name of a caller to be displayed, when someone calls.
"Once industry stakeholder consultation is completed, this will be implemented all over the country," the minister said.
He also said that the 5G services will usher in high speeds -- about 10 times faster than 4G -- and bring new-age business models.
In this line, the government is set to auction about Rs 4.3 lakh crore worth of airwaves that can offer 5G telecom services, including ultra-high-speed internet, and has also approved the setting up of captive 5G networks by tech firms. As much as 72 GHz of spectrum will be put on the block during 5G auction, set to commence on July 26.
Quizzed on the slow download speeds, the minister said that India's average data consumption at 18 GB per month is more than the global average of 11 GB per month.
"India's data consumption is more than what is seen in highly-developed nations. More investments are needed in infrastructure. Massive investments in infrastructure are important in the backdrop of data rates, calls drops, call quality," Vaishnaw said.
The minister further added that in places such as Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai among other cities, tower installations become difficult as people object to mobile towers.
Electro-Magnetic Field (EMF) radiation norms in India are stricter than stipulated global limits, Vaishnaw said and assured that there is no reason to be concerned on this aspect.