GoI pulls up Apple, Samsung and other smartphone makers, calls meeting to immediately push out 5G update

Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launched 5G services in India on October 1, on the inaugural day of the 2022 edition of the Indian Mobile Congress in Delhi. With that two of the biggest service providers in India, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio also announced that they also will be launching 5G internet for regular consumers soon.  

Now, while some users have been able to access 5G internet in certain cities across India, at selected spots, iPhone users in India, unfortunately, have not been able to access 5G internet speeds. Along with iPhone users, several users of some of the top-tier devices that Samsung and OnePlus make have also not been able to access 5G internet in their cities, while users of several budget smartphones have been able to. The reason? Apple and Samsung hadn’t pushed updates in a timely manner.

Initially, when smartphone makers started selling 5G-ready devices in India, they disabled the 5G bands that they had provided in the devices, mainly to let the devices have better battery life. The plan was, once India had adequate 5G coverage, across its geographical and political borders and once people were realistically expecting 5G services to work, these bands would be activated using a software update. However, most major manufacturers like Apple and Samsung have failed to push the software update out on time.

The surprising thing here is that devices that sell for half the price of an Apple or Samsung flagship have had their 5G bands activated all along. These devices include smartphones from manufacturers like Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Realme, etc.

Given how most foreign dignitaries visiting India will be using an iPhone, and how most of our ministers and their staff use iPhones for security reasons, it is imperative that Apple pushes out an update that enables 5G on their devices soon.

The meeting that has been called will be held behind closed doors and will attend by some of the top executives from smartphone manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, Vivo, Xiaomi and a number of other domestic players, and by executives from the Indian telco industry.

Insiders who have firsthand knowledge of the matter claim that the main issue is that because India has developed its own 5G technology, companies like Apple and Samsung are still evaluating their software and how do they make it compatible with India’s 5G technology.  

According to a third source with firsthand knowledge of the situation, Apple is currently evaluating several 5G offerings from Indian network operators.