Phones in India Have Hardware, But Not Software for 5G

NEW DELHI: India entered a new era in terms of communication when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 5G network services in the country on the October 1. Major shareholders in the spectrum are Jio, Airtel, Vi and Adani Group.

Airtel has rolled out its 5G services in eight cities of the country in a phased manner. They are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi. Meanwhile, Jio has launched it on an experimental basis in four cities of the country namely Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Varanasi.

Usually, the service providers are to blame for the woes of the telecom customers of the country. But the reason for concern for the Indian users is not from the service provider's side this time. It is from their mobile phone makers. Meaning that your operator may provide the 5G services, you may also pay for the same, but still, be unable to use them because your costly phone does not have the necessary software upgrades.

Although the majority of the phones available in the market today have the hardware necessary to provide 5G access embedded in them, they lack the necessary drivers for the same. As of now, major players including Apple, Samsung and Google have not given these necessary software upgrades to their customers. However major Chinese players like Xiaomi and BBK Electronics have already rolled out their upgrades. So, phones from One plus, Redmi, Realme and Mi brands will be ready to use the new networks, unlike their American or Korean competitors.

The problem came to light when people in cities where the service was launched could not find the service on their phones. One of these cases was when the CEO of Paytm Vijay Shekhar Sharma tweeted that he had procured a Google Pixel 6A just so that he can use the newly launched network services, but was unable to detect it on his phone.

A report says that major telecom players and information technology departments will meet the representatives of all major phone manufacturers to expedite the process of software upgradation in their handsets.

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