According to the release, 5G will be rolled out in cities selected by the prime minister, gradually covering the entire country over the next few years. The 5G will impact the cumulative economy of India is estimated to reach USD 450 billion by 2035.

In a statement, the Ministry of Communications said, “The 5G to be launched by the Prime Minister in select cities will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years,”.It also added, “5G can unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits giving it the potential for being a transformational force for Indian society … The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is expected to reach $450 Billion by 2035.”

Supervision of high-speed internet services, fifth generation or 5G new economic opportunities and social benefits are expected to work, working as a transitional for Indian society.

Vi has partnered with industry leaders like L&T Smart World & Communication, Athonet, Indian start-ups like Vizzbee & Tweek Labs, and technology leaders – Ericsson and Nokia for trialling use cases in the two locations.

Vi has been allocated 26 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum in the mmWave band by the DoT, for 5G network trials and use cases. Vi has achieved peak speeds in excess of 1.5 Gbps on 3.5 GHz, more than 4.2 Gbps on 26 GHz and up to 9.8 Gbps on backhaul spectrum of E-bands. According to Ravinder Takkar, MD & CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited, “I am confident that 5G will bring a better tomorrow that will deliver significant benefits to consumers, businesses and society, driving digital economy growth in India.”

Using Nokia’s solution, Vi successfully trialed providing 5G connectivity across an area covering 17.1 km while delivering speeds of more than 100Mbps. This 5G trial by Vi along with Nokia, supports the Indian government’s Digital India vision of providing reliable and high-speed connectivity in rural areas. Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, said, “With our 5G ready network and our partner Nokia’s, field-proven solution, we are now working on providing solutions and use cases based on high-speed 5G coverage in rural areas.”

Through its partnership with Vizzbee Robotics Solution, Vi will trial Unmanned Aerial Traffic Management (UTM) and the Management Server (Aerobridge) using 5G Network to validate solutions such as stream live video frames from the UAV over the network, demonstrate the public safety and law enforcement application for ground personnel, perform real-time analytics from the data captured via drones, amongst others.

Vi’s association with Tweek Labs will test a full bodied motion capture suit using 5G technology, that can be an effective solution for sports training as it helps monitor performance of athletes. Abhijit Kishore, Chief Operating Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, said, “We believe in partnering with the best and most innovative technology providers which can help us deliver solutions to enhance business outcomes for our customers.”

The OPPO F19 Pro+ 5G smartphone features a 48 MP Quad Camera, 8MP Wide Angle Camera, 2MP Portrait Mono Cameras and 2MP Macro Mono Camera. The premium features such as the AI Scene Enhancement 2.0, Dynamic Bokeh, and Night Plus work together to automatically capture clearer, beautiful photos and videos. There are features like AI Night Flare Portrait, AI Color Portrait, AI Beautification 2.0, Ultra Steady Video, and 4K Video. It comes with 6.43” (16.3cm) Punch-Hole Display, 2400 x 1080 FHD+ Super AMOLED Display, in-display Fingerprint 3.0 sensor, ColorOS Efficiency 3.0. OPPO also launched the F19 Pro. OPPO F19 Pro ships with ColorOS 11.1 just as the F19 Pro+ 5G does. OPPOalso launched the OPPO Band Style. It offersContinuous SpO2 Monitoring, breathing quality assessment during sleep and run tracking. It comes with 12 workout modes. It has a 100mAh battery. Priced at Rs 2,999, OPPO Band Style will be available as an Amazon Special starting 8March onwards. The OPPO Band Style will be available at Rs 2,499 with the OPPO F19Pro+ 5G or theOPPO F19 Pro.

The OPPO F19 Pro+ 5G priced at Rs 25,990 and OPPO F19 Pro at Rs 21,490 (8+128 GB), F19 Pro 23,490 (8+256) will be available to pre-book starting 8 March onward and Sale starting on March 17. It will come in two colors – Space Silver and Fluid Black. OPPO is offering a bundled discount under which the Enco W11 ear-buds will be available at a price of Rs 999.

On Tuesday, during the company’s first pandemic-forced virtual annual general meeting, Ambani outlined another vision to disrupt the mobile device market again.

The company, with its new partner Google, will build entry-level 4G and 5G smartphones at the fraction of the existing cost based on optimisations to the Android operating system and the Playstore.

If successful, the move could pose serious challenges to competing mobile companies, especially Vodafone-Idea. A large chunk of its customers are still on 2G and 3G. Bharti too will be affected, not to mention BSNL, which does even have a 4G service live, leave alone a phone.

In 2017, Jio entered the mobile device space by launching 4G feature phones bundled with data.

This was primarily to lower the bar for 2G customers who were reluctant to take the plunge and upgrade their phones from 2G to 4G by shelling out a good sum of money.

The phone was based on a non-Android platform — KaiOs — and lacked the ease of use and features of Google’s operating system. But the killer was the price: Rs 1,094 for both the phone and a data pack. The magic price worked. Jio grabbed over 100 million 2G subscribers from Vodafone-Idea and Bharti. The latter both failed to take on Jio with their own competing product.

Yet the growth of the feature phone subscriber base which contributed to more than 60 per cent of net incremental subscribers every month initially, fell to 40 per cent and then fell further to a trickle.

Analysts say that to woo the rest of the 2G and 3G customers still with Vodafone-Idea and Bharti — as well as provide an upgrade for their own 4G feature phone customers — Jio needed a new strategy.

The need of the hour was an entry-level 4G smartphone that cost less than the ones currently available for over Rs 3,000. (Slightly better quality ones go above Rs 5,000). If not costing less, it should offer more value.

That is the slot Ambani is eyeing.

So how will it hit the rivals? A slower pace of conversion of its customers to 4G for Bharti and Vodafone-Idea – and the disadvantages of a legacy network – have led to a situation where together they currently (based on March 31st subscriber figures) have over 333 million 2G and 3G customers who constitute over 58 per cent of their subscriber base. These subscribers are prime targets for an affordable 4G smartphone, even better if it is bundled with data. Unless, of course, the two companies aggressively move their customers to 4G very quickly in the next 6-10 months (the time it will require for such phones to be commercially available) or make a counteroffer.

Even BSNL/MTNL with over 150 million non-4G customers are vulnerable as their 4G services launch seems to have been delayed. Vodafone-Idea stands to be the worst-hit. It is already financially strapped. Over 64 per cent of its customers are on 2G and 3G, rendering them vulnerable to Ambani’s disruptive move.

This was clearly discernible when 4G feature phones were introduced; the loss of net customers each month was far higher for Vodafone-Idea than for Bharti which quickly upgraded and gained 4G customers. What isn’t known is whether Reliance and Google can build new entry-level smartphones at an affordable price. Or whether they can be sold in other emerging markets.