Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate 5G services in India at the Indian Mobile Congress at New Delhi's Pragati Maidan on October 1.

At the last Reliance Industries annual general meeting (AGM), chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani had said Reliance Jio would be rolling out 5G in Diwali and Bharti Airtel, too, said it would be rolling out towards the end of the year.

But Bharti Airtel has said they would have preferred to defer 5G rollouts by a year, given a choice, as India only has 9 percent of existing phones and 30 percent of phone shipments that support 5G. The comments came during the at JPMorgan Conference last week.

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Will PM Modi launch 5G services in India on Oct 1?

However, Bharti Airtel also said it would be matching the competition when it comes to the rollout timelines. The firm said the monetisation opportunity will be in the consumer segment right now, as consumers upgrade from 4G to 5G. Monetisation opportunities from enterprise applications will take some time as the segment will evolve gradually.

Jointly organised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the sixth edition of the India Mobile Congress (IMC) will take place from October 1-4.

Last month, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government expects 5G services to be rolled out in the country by October 12 and installations were being done.

Disclosure: RIL, the promoter of Reliance Jio, also controls Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com.

First Published:Sept 26, 2022 1:38 PM IST