5G trials hit DoT hurdle, may now start by year-end

NEW DELHI: India’s fifth-generation (5G) mobile technology trials are expected to start by the end of 2019 or early next year, according to a recently constituted committee looking into the pilot initiative.

“5G trials may happen towards the end of this year or early next year. Early deployments may happen in the second or third quarter of 2020,” Abhay Karandikar, director of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and chairman of the recently set up committee to look into 5G spectrum for trials, told ET.

The much-anticipated trials have hit a roadblock, with the Department of Telecommunications’ wireless planning and coordination wing averse to allocating airwaves for more than 90 days, which, according to the industry, would not serve any purpose.