5G trials in India may be delayed as Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea seek more time to submit proposals

Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea are reportedly seeking a deadline extension from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for submissions of their proposals for conducting 5G field trials. For reference, the deadline to submit the proposal was January 10, but the telcos haven’t come up with their proposals. This could lead to a delay in 5G trials in India. 

On December 31, DoT asked telecom operators to submit their proposal for conducting 5G trials and gave a deadline of 10 days (till January 10). Since the deadline is almost here and the telcos haven’t submitted their proposals, it is likely that 5G trials in India will be delayed. The top 3 telecom operators in the country are looking to seek deadline extension from DoT. 

The information comes from an unidentified senior official who told ET that a lot of documentation and many details are yet to be ascertained, which is not possible by January 10. As a result, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) will write a formal letter to DoT this week seeking a deadline extension. However, the telcos and COAI have not yet fixed the deadline they are seeing from the DoT. 

Leading up to the announcement of the deadline, there was a debate if Chinese telecom gear makers like Huawei and ZTE should be allowed to participate in the 5G trials, but the government has now cleared Huawei and ZTE to take part in India’s 5G trials. That said, Vodafone is likely to pick Ericsson and Huawei as its partners to conduct 5G trials. On the other hand, Airtel is said to pick Nokia, Huawei and Ericsson to conduct the same. Further, Reliance Jio is expected to carry forward its major partnership with Samsung to test 5G network in India.

5G trials in India are expected to take place in the first half of 2020. 

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