NEW DELHI: The government is believed to have nudged the smartphone mobile manufacturers like Apple and Samsung for faster updation of their phones to support 5G networks being rolled out in the country, sources said TNIE on Tuesday.
The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has called smartphone manufacturers for a meeting on October 12 to discuss software update timeline for 5G support. The move, the government believes, will help early adoption of the 5G network in the country.
This comes after reports that a wide range of smartphone models including those of Apple and Samsung are not supporting the 5G networks being rolled out by the telecom operators. The meeting will be chaired by the top officials including telecom secretary K Rajaraman and Alkesh Kumar Sharma, secretary, of electronics & information technology.
According to the government, the agenda of the meeting is to enable the handsets of the customers to be ready for 5G services launched on 5G networks (both Standalone (SA) and NSA (Non-Standalone) simultaneously) by Telecom Service Providers.
The intervention of handset manufacturers and telecom service providers to release software FOTA upgrades for all 5G handsets. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has started rolling 5G in eight cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi, while Jio has started beta trials in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Varanasi.
According to an Ericsson report, India has witnessed three times increase in smartphone users who own a 5G handset, and over 100 million users with 5G-ready smartphones wish to upgrade to a 5G subscription in 2023. India has 100 million subscribers who have 5G-ready phones, however many devices including Apple or Samsung are not supporting the 5G service at present.
Steps for adoption of 5G network