You might expect a major Indian 4G connectivity project to be awarded to one of India’s big mobile operators, However, RailTel, a PSU (Public Sector Undertaking or government-owned establishment) under the Ministry of Railways, was the recent winner of a State Bank of India (SBI) order to provide LTE connectivity for a large number of its ATMs.
Operator Vodafone Oman and vendor Ericsson say they have carried out a successful test call that will pave the way for the commercial introduction of 5G standalone (SA) voice and data services for Vodafone subscribers in the Sultanate.
Could the rollout of 5G services across India by operators be slowed without heavy investment in tower connectivity? That appears to be the question asked by ratings agency ICRA, which suggests that some three trillion rupees (about US$36.7 billion) will need to be spent over the next four to five years to fiberise towers.
Filipino operator NOW Telecom has selected Nokia’s Bell Labs Consulting to design a nationwide 5G Standalone (SA) network, and to design and plan a national broadband network.
Indian market leader Jio has connected 184 cities across India to its Standalone (SA) 5G network, noting that its latest expansion added a further 50 cities across 17 states.
