India officially began the auction of spectrum for 5G this Tuesday, 26th July 2022. The auction is underway with the country’s top telecom companies such as Reliance Jio, Airtel, Idea-Vodafone and Adani Data Networks, a new player Adani Data Networks — actively taking part in the bidding process for 5G. Ashwini Vaishnaw, the minister of Electronics & IT in India has said that bids of about 1.49 thousand have already been accepted up to date. As spectrum bidding and allocation is in progress, let’s find out about the 5G bands available in India. This will let you know whether your 5G phone will work with 5G bands that are available in India. Let’s begin.
5G Bands in India: Explained (2022)
The article we’ve included all supported 5G bands that are available in India including the low-band, mid band and top-tier mmWave frequency.
What 5G Bands are Supported in India?
The auction for 5G bands is currently underway in India and will run until August 14th 2022. However, some of the details about 5G bands are already available in the public domain. In the United States, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced the possibility of selling these five frequency bands for 5G: 600MHz 700 800 MHz 1,800 MHz, 900 2100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 3,300MHz 3500 MHz and 26 GHz.
As you can see that radio bands across every category whether low-band, mid-band and high-band (mmWave) -they are all available. If you’re looking to know more about the different kinds of 5G band (sub-6GHz and the mmWave) visit our explanation.
Within the auctioned frequency band in the auction, it is the case that two of these 5G band that telecom companies are the most interested in: the lower band 700 MHz (n28) and the mid-band 3500MHz (n78). Its n78 (3300-3800MHz) spectrum has become a highly-prized 5G frequency band for delivering sub-6GHz 5G services to vast majority of people. It falls under the category of mid-band and can offer speeds as high as 1Gbps. It’s certainly not as fast as 5G mmWave, but it’s affordable, operates over an extended range and is available across the globe.
In addition the 5G phones of Apple or Samsung up to Xiaomi, Realme, etc. All of them have the 5G band n78 support. Also, the 5G band n78 works in India. The first OnePlus Nord, which supports one 5G band, also supports the n78 band. This means that you will also be able enjoy 5G services once they are launched in India. According to reports, a large portion of 3.5GHz airwaves have been purchased from Airtel and Jio. Jio as well as Airtel.
Additionally the telcos are bidding fervently for the 700MHz frequency, which is low-band since it’s expected as bringing 5G to distant and dense areas. This frequency range will easily penetrate buildings and walls and could expand the coverage area of 5G significantly. It’s twice as efficient as 900MHz and is much less expensive in comparison to the frequency band of 1800MHz which is used mostly by rural communities to expand the coverage.
Furthermore the 700MHz frequency can be used to offer real five-G on its own (SA 5G) however, it will require telecom providers to upgrade their entire network equipment. However, the N28 frequency is another 5G frequency that is utilized in India by nearly all mobile and telecom firms.
Additionally, Adani Data Networks and Jio are demonstrating a great enthusiasm for the ultra-fast mmWave 5G band, particularly the n258 band, which is called the 26GHz (24.25 – 27.5 GHz) frequency band. It’s an elite ultra-low latency 5G band with speeds of as high as 10Gbps.
If you’re here you may be thinking what Adani’s 5G plans will look like? Analysts believe the possibility that Adani Data Networks might deliver its 5G-like services for enterprises, creating an ultra-fast indoor network. Additionally the n41 (2.5GHz) and the n77 (3300 4200MHz – 3300MHz) and the n79 (4400 to 5500MHz) 5G bands getting attention in the mid-band 5G market. It’s only been only two weeks since the auction began, and we anticipate additional sub-6GHz 5G bands to be auctioned off in the near future. Stay tuned for further information on this subject as we’ll update this article when the auction closes and end.
