Jio joins Airtel in fight against 5Gi standard; says 2 GHz in mid-band needed for India 5G demand

NEW DELHI: Indian telecom operators have informed the Department of Telecommunications that the so-called Indian 5G standard, 5Gi, doesn’t have a device ecosystem and it should only be considered as optional and non-mandatory for the industry. They said that making the standard mandatory would increase prices of smartphones.

Indian telcos, vendors and chipmakers met the DoT Secretary last week for stakeholder consultation on the 5G ecosystem. The meeting was also attended by members from academia, ICEA, TSDSI, CDoT and chipmakers.

During the meeting, an Airtel representative told the secretary that 5Gi is not globally harmonized and will lead to costly devices and delays in rollout.