5G networks could come FIRST to Kolkata, Hyderabad and 11 other cities

5G trials are already going on in certain cities and if 5G rolls out for public in 2022, know which cities could get it first.

A total of 13 cities could taste 5G networks when it is ready for launch. (REUTERS)

When is 5G coming? The Department of Telecom (DoT) is yet to put a date on that as well as the spectrum allocation. However, 5G has been under testing for a while in certain circles and chances are that those cities could be the first ones to taste 5G networks. In fact, 5G could rollout in 13 cities if everything falls into place in 2022.

According to a report from ANI, it is said that a total of 13 cities could taste 5G networks when it is ready for launch. The DoT has already confirmed the list of cities expected to get live 5G networks first. The list includes Kolkata, Bangalore, Gurugram, Pune, Gandhinagar, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, and Jamnagar.

5G networks could come to 13 cities first

The country's top three network operators, namely Jio, Vodafone Idea, and Airtel have been testing their 5G networks in these cities already. With the infrastructure already in place, these cities could witness 5Gnetyworks first when compared to the rest of the country.

That said, there's no clarity on when the rollout is expected to happen. TRAI is yet to hold the spectrum allocation, although rumours have hinted at that happening in 2022. Commercial 5G services could, however, take time to rollout for more cities. The coverage is likely to be limited in the next few years, similar to how 4G was deployed back in 2013.

It is likely that the first 5G networks will stick to the sub-6GHz technology and could only add mmWave in the later years. The sub6 5G could work easily in congested urban areas, raising the average data speeds up than the current 4G LTE networks.

The DoT has been working on an indigenous 5G testbed and that is expected to be launched on January 2022. The testbed is expected to offer an equal chance to small and medium enterprises a chance to test their 5G solutions.