Vi 5G launch in India: Price, rollout timeline, cities to get first, and other things

5G spectrum auction concluded in India earlier this month, and the wait for the actual rollout has begun. Vi (formerly Vodafone India) has been testing the connectivity technology for a while with Ericsson, though the company is yet to offer a launch date or even a month. The telco was among the four brands to participate in the spectrum auction organised by the DoT (Department of Telecommunications), which comes under the Ministry of Communications. The company emerged as the third largest bidder after Reliance Jio and Airtel. Taking a close look at its bidding strategy, we can analyse Vi's plans for 5G in India to an extent. And that is what we are going to cover in this article.

When and where will Vi 5G network rollout

So far, Airtel has been the only one to offer a clear rollout timeline. The company said it would start rolling out 5G services in India this year, and the network will reach rural parts by 2024. Vi, on the other hand, is yet to offer clarity. Similarly, Vi and Airtel's biggest competitor, Reliance Jio, is expected to start rolling out 5G services this month.

Vi is yet to offer details on the cities it would first bring 5G services. The government had earlier mentioned that services would be launched in 13 major cities - Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, and Jamnagar. More cities and towns are expected to be covered by later this year.

It is possible that Vi could at least bring 5G services first to Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru - the major hubs in the country. It could also rollout in Pune and Gandhinagar, where it tested 5G speeds with Ericsson. During its trials in Pune in May this year, Vi with Ericsson noticed a peak download speed of 5.92 Gbps. For reference, India's average download speed for July 2022 was 19.57 Mbps, as per data by speed tracker Ookla.

Vi's 5G plans in India

At the auction, the government was able to sell 5G spectrums worth Rs 1,50,173 lakh crore. Among the participants, Jio purchased the most number of bands, including the most demanding 700MHz band. Vi bid heavily for mid-band spectrum in 17 circles and 26GHz spectrum in 16 circles, while also picking up 4G spectrum in three circles. The company spent nearly Rs 18,799 crore during the bid.

In other words, the company is at least targeting the mmWave 5G spectrum, which is available globally. The development essentially indicates that Vi is prioritising offering top speeds in select circles, without shelling too much out of the pocket. It may expand its capacities once it views the reception and demand for the network.

In terms of pricing, it will be interesting to see how it will fare against Airtel and Jio. Airtel previously told India Today Tech that 5G plans will cost similar to 4G plans. Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has also indicated something similar.