The Department of Telecom (DoT) has granted spectrum to telecom providers in order to begin 5G trials in the country, as per sources.

According to industry sources, the trials will take place in cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Gujarat, and Hyderabad, among others.

"Telecom operators have been allocated spectrum in 700 Mhz band, 3.3-3.6 gigahertz (Ghz) band and 24.25-28.5 Ghz band across various locations," a telecom company official said.

On May 4, DoT had approved applications from Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and MTNL for conducting 5G trials without using technologies from Chinese companies.

DoT had approved trials of 5G with Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and C-DOT. In addition, Reliance Jio Infocomm will be conducting trials using its own indigenous technology.

According to DoT, 5G technology is expected to deliver ten times better download speed than that of 4G and up to three times greater spectrum efficiency.

The use of 5G in Indian settings will be tested during the testing. This includes tele-medicine, tele-education, and agriculture monitoring using drones, among other things. On their networks, telecom operators will be allowed to test various 5G devices.

The trials are now scheduled to last for six months. This includes a two-month period for purchasing and setting up the equipment.

The approval letters state that each telecom service provider must perform trials in rural and semi-urban areas as well as urban areas to ensure that the benefits of 5G technology are seen throughout the country and not just in urban areas.

Industry sources said that none of the telecom operators has been allocated spectrum in Punjab, Haryana, and the union territory of Chandigarh.