(This article is authored by Alar)

Following the launch of 5G services by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the sixth India Mobile Congress 2022 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, Jio launched 5G services on October 5th in honor of Dusshera. Bharti Airtel has already begun rolling out 5G services in about 8 cities. According to Indian Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, 5G will be available in more than 200 Indian cities over the next six months.

With the announcement that 5G mobile services are being rolled out to eight cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Bangalore, Gurugram, Chennai, and a few others, Airtel is the first company to introduce 5G to users in India. The telecom company hopes to make it accessible to everyone by March 2024.

On Wednesday, Reliance Jio launched the 5G services in 4 cities starting with Dussehra, at cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Varanasi. The telecom operator has also announced Jio 5G Welcome Offer under which users will get unlimited 5G data with up to 1gbps+ speed. Jio has announced beta trials for its 5G services for selected invitees. But RIL’s Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced that Jio 5G will reach everyone by December 2023, which basically means by the end of next year.

Prime Minister at the launch event of 5G service at the India Mobile Congress spoke, "earlier, the cost of 1GB data was about Rs 300, it has come down to about Rs 10 per GB now. On average, a person in India consumes 14GB per month. This would have cost about Rs 4200 per month but costs Rs 125-150. It's the efforts of govt that led to this."At least 12 of the 100 5G technology labs that the government plans to establish across India will be used to train students and carry out experiments, according to Mr. Vaishnaw, who spoke at the event.

According to reports, cutting-edge technology will assist in disaster monitoring in real-time, precision agriculture, and reducing the involvement of humans in risky industrial operations like deep mines and offshore activities, among others.