New Delhi: The Centre will push Apple, Samsung and 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 launched high-speed service.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 5G services on October 1 amid much fanfare, 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 expanded next year.
But Apple’s iPhone models, including the latest iPhone 14, and many of Samsung’s premier phones do not have software compatible for supporting 5G in India, according to three industry sources and Airtel’s website.
Concerned by this, top bureaucrats from India’s telecoms and IT departments will chair a meeting on Wednesday for early 5G adoption, asking smartphone executives from foreign companies Apple, Samsung, Vivo and Xiaomi, as well as domestic telecom operators Reliance, Airtel and Vodafone Idea to be present, according to a government document seen by Reuters
Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics , Vivo, Xiaomi Corp , 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.
A third 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.
A third 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.
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