Indian government will push Apple, Samsung, and many other mobile phone manufacturers to prioritise rolling out software upgrades to support 5G in the country, amid concerns that many of their models are not ready for the recently launch high-speed service.
PM Narendra Modi launch 5G services on 1st October 2022 with leading telecom operator Reliance Jio saying it would make the service available in four cities and rival Bharti Airtel in eight.
Both companies said the service would be expand next year.
But Apple’s iPhone models, including the latest iPhone 14, and many of Samsung’s phones do not have software compatible with supporting 5G in India, according to three industry sources and Airtel’s website.
Top bureaucrats from India’s telecoms and IT departments will chair a meeting for early 5G adoption, asking smartphone executives from foreign companies Apple, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi, as well as domestic telecom operators Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea to be present, according to a government document.
The agenda includes holding talks “to prioritise” and release software upgrades for supporting the high-speed network, the notice for the close-door meeting state.
Apple, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi, as well as the three domestic telecom operators, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The government’s IT and telecom departments also did not respond.
India has said that the launch of 5G in the world’s biggest mobile market after China will bring high-speed internet to consumers, with simultaneous socio-economic benefits in sectors like agriculture and health.
Jio, India’s biggest mobile carrier with more than 420 million customers, snap up airwaves worth $11 billion (approx. Rs. 90,600 crore) in a $19 billion (appro. Rs. 1.6 lakh crore) 5G spectrum auction.
Airtel spent more than $5 billion (approx. Rs. 41,000 crore), and Vodafone spent out above $2 billion (approx. Rs. 16,500 crore).
Telecom players and smartphone companies have holding discussions with each other, ironing out compatibility issues between the specific 5G technology of telecom companies in India and phone software is taking time, one of the industry sources said.
Airtel’s website show “Apple yet to update software” for all of Apple iPhones’ 12 to 14 models under its 5G compatible section.
For Samsung too, many models were not ready, Airtel said, and more than three dozen models of China’s Xiaomi and Vivo were shown as ready for use with its 5G service.
A source with direct knowledge of the issue said Apple was in the process of testing and validating different 5G offerings from network providers in India.
