Working with telcos to provide seamless 5G by year-end, handset makers tell govt

New Delhi, Oct 12

Leading mobile handset players on Wednesday said they are working with telecom service providers to release necessary 5G software updates by year-end, as the government told them to fix the gaps and ensure a seamless transition to 5G for millions in the first phase.

In a meeting, the government told the stakeholders to quickly support the new technology.

While Apple said it will roll out 5G-enabled services via an over-the-air (OTA) update for iPhones by the end of December, Samsung said it will release software updates by mid-November.

An OTA update is the wireless delivery of new software, firmware, or other data to mobile devices. Wireless carriers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) typically use over-the-air updates to deploy firmware and configure phones for use on their networks over Wi-Fi or mobile broadband.

"We are working with our carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is completed. 5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December," Apple said in a statement.

Samsung said that it has pioneered 5G technology development since 2009 and took the leading role in standardising 5G technology globally.

"In India, Samsung has the widest portfolio of 5G devices. We are working closely with our operator partners and are committed to rolling out OTA updates across all our 5G devices by mid-November," a company spokesperson said.

Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi were among the major mobile phone makers present in the meeting, which was presided over by telecom as well as IT secretaries.

"Pixel 7, 7 Pro and Pixel 6a are 5G capable devices. We are actively working with the Indian carriers to enable functionality at the earliest," a Google India spokesperson said in a statement.

Muralikrishnan B, President, Xiaomi India, told IANS that currently, 100 per cent of its 5G smartphone models support the NSA network out of the box, wherein users can choose 'Prefer 5G' in network settings to connect to the 5G network".

"We have already started rolling out the FOTA (firmware over-the-air) updates to select devices like Xiaomi 12 Pro 5G, Mi 11X Pro, Xiaomi 11i, Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge, among others. Most devices will start receiving OTA updates by Diwali," Muralikrishnan added.

Airtel and Jio have rolled out their 5G services in key metros in a phased manner. Vodafone-Idea is yet to reveal its 5G roll-out plans.