DoT To Discuss Faster 5G Updates with Smartphone Companies, Telcos Today

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has called a joint meeting with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) today. Top officials of both departments are expected to meet smartphone companies and telecom operators to hold discussions on issues related to the access of 5G services in India. 

According to media reports, smartphone giants Apple and Samsung are also expected to attend this meeting with DoT and IT MeitY officials. 

While the government has officially kick-started the process of enabling 5G services in the country, at present, there are many instances and devices that are not supporting the service. Even though over 100 million users reportedly have 5G enabled phones, there are many like Apple, that are not supporting the facility. 

Hence, to address all such issues and ensure a smooth access to 5G services, both the DoT and MeitY will be holding this joint meeting at the Department of Telecom’s office. The Secretaries of both the departments are expected to be present and chair this meeting to discuss solutions for issues related to 5G services in India. 

An official source also told PTI: “We shall be working together to ensure smooth rollout of 5G, including smooth on boarding of consumers.”

Apart from finding appropriate solutions to several problems, the agenda of this joint meeting also includes a discussion around enabling the devices to support 5G services on 5G network in the country. To aide this, the authorities are expected to discuss the intervention of device manufacturers and telecom operators to release software updates for adoption of 5G in the country.

As per last updates, Bharti Airtel became the first service provider to commercially launch 5G services in eight cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi. As far as Reliance Jio goes, the company has started the beta trials and expects to make these services available soon.