During the 5G launch at the IMC 2022, both Reliance, Jio 5G and Airtel 5G have shown a good speed in their networks. They both of course have different plans for their rollout and they both have a different 5G technology.
Reliance Jio has a 5G SA (Standalone) technology and Airtel has a 5G NSA (Non-Standalone) technology. The Reliance 5G Sa is independent and has no need for a 4G core technology. Airtel on the other hand depends on 4G core.
Initially, both Reliance and Airtel had launched the 5G in select cities in India but both the operators are planning to cover more cities by the end of this year and most across India in the next 2 to 3 years. Jio gave the 5G services first in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Varanasi and Airtel launched these in Mumbai, Delhi, Varanasi, Chennai, Siliguri, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Now, both the companies have said that there is no need for users of 4G sim to buy a new sim for 5G as their present sim will support 5G services.
Jio plans to cover the whole of India by 2023. Airtel too will cover more cities in the next 2 to 3 years.
Many users have received 5G services in their smartphones. It is said that a member of the India Tech team has received 5G support on his Samsung Galaxy Smartphone in Delhi.
Most of the 5G supported smartphones are compatible with Jio and Airtel 5G and those which are not getting the over the air (OTA) updates. If the OTA updates are started by all the manufacturers, then the device will start supporting the already present 5G Network.
Apple in December is going to roll out OTA for iPhones while OnePlus and Nothing phones have already started receiving 5G updates.
