5G was launched in India on October 1, 2022. Since then, the 5G networks have reached over 50 towns in the country. Ashwini Vaishnaw, the telecom minister of India, said that no feedback/complaints have been reported by the Telecom Serivce Providers (TSPs) for any difficulties faced by 5G users wherever the 5G network is available. According to an ET Telecom report, answering a question about 5G tariffs, Vaishnaw said that the TSPs are currently offering 5G at no extra cost to the subscribers who own 5G smartphones. The minister spoke about the policies that the Indian government has taken to ensure that the expansion of the telecom network takes place at a fast rate. He said that sufficient spectrum was made available to the telcos, the additional spectrum usage charge (SUC) of 0.5% for spectrum sharing was removed, and the telcos are now allowed to share and trade spectrum, along with the infrastructure. Talking specifically about the expansion of 5G in India, the minister said that the minimum rollout obligations have to be met by the telcos for a period of five years from the date of allocation of spectrum. Post that, it depends on the telcos how they want to expand their 5G network services. To recall, the Indian government had bagged around Rs 1.50 lakh crore from the recently held spectrum auctions for 5G airwaves and sold 51,236.2 MHz spectrum to the telcos.
