India’s 5G rollout has been dominated by Reliance Jio, with the company accounting for as much as 79 per cent (over 2 lakh ) of the 2.52 lakh 5G- powered base transceiver stations (BTS) in the country till June 19.
Sources aware of the development say that Reliance Jio has hit over 55-60 million 5G customers and extended the network to more than 6000 cities, towns and talukas across the country.
Wenesday Rate
Wednesday01 Jan. 2025
Its rival Bharti Airtel, the only other player in the 5G game, is significantly behind at the moment, with only one-fourth the number of Jio’s 5G BTS towers.
According to sources, Airtel has notched up 35-40 million 5G subscribers and its 5G network is available in over 3500 towns and villages in the country.
Reiterating the difference between the rivals, Goldman Sachs says that Jio’s 5G availability (based on Open Signal) was 3x that of its rival Airtel. Its 5G users are connected to an active 5G network 37 per cent of the time, which is three times more often than Bharti’s.
However, some experts opine that Airtel’s lower number of BTS is because it runs a non-standalone 5G network, where it can leverage its existing 4G core. Jio, on the other hand, has a more advanced network of standalone 5G, one where even the core is 5G. Hence, they require more BTSs.
Sources say that while Airtel has on an average one BTS (on 3500 MHZ ) in a tower with two antennae, which they consider adequate for its 5G coverage, Jio has two BTSs (on 3500 MHz and 700 MHz) in a tower and each has three antennae.
The good news is that the total number of 5G BTS towers already account for one-third of the total number of such towers in the country. And the speed of its deployment is the same as that of China. Goldman Sachs says that the rolling out of towers at a weekly rate of 600,000 BTS is now on a par with annual deployments in China. According to Ericsson Mobility Report, the total subscriber base for 5G globally is expected to hit 1.5 billion in 2023. However, while the global population penetration of 5G has touched 35 per cent, without China it would be only 10 per cent.
