Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel may not hike tariffs for 5G services during the initial phase of the launch. The low penetration of 5G handsets and the inability of several handsets to support certain spectrum bands were cited as some reasons, according to a report in the Financial Express (FE).
Currently, only 8 per cent of handsets out of 600 million are 5G-enabled, the report added.
The companies may upgrade current users of the existing 4G plans and provide them access to 5G services, the report added. This is possible because no change of SIM cards is required to upgrade the network from 4G to 5G. However, while migrating from 3G to 4G, users were required to change their SIM cards.
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In the 5G service, the speed of data consumption would be much higher than that in 4G services. The company’s executives have stated that this would translate into higher average revenue per user (ARPU) for operators.
The FE report further added that according to a report by Counterpoint Research, 5G-enabled handsets would contribute around 35 per cent to the overall sales of smartphones during the October-December quarter. Total 5G phones would go up to around 85 million or 14 per cent of all the phones.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, at the Annual General Meeting (AGM 2022), said that the company will launch 5G services in major metro cities by Diwali. Bharti Airtel also has a similar timeline, FE stated.
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