Reliance Jio announced it has reached 277 cities in India with its standalone 5G network after its recent deployment in 20 locations nationwide.
In a statement, Reliance Jio detailed the 20 cities to be connected to its “True 5G” network are: Bongaigaon, North Lakhimpur, Sivasagar, Tinsukia (Assam), Bhagalpur, Katihar (Bihar), Mormugao (Goa), Diu (Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu), Gandhidham (Gujarat), Bokaro Steel City, Deoghar, Hazaribag (Jharkhand), Raichur (Karnataka), Satna (Madhya Pradesh), Chandrapur, Ichalkaranji (Maharashtra), Thoubal (Manipur), Faizabad, Firozabad, Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh).
Reliance Jio claimed it is the first and only provider of 5G in the majority of the locations above. It is launching a welcome promotion for new users who can experience unlimited data with download speeds of 1Gbps at no additional costs.
The operator noted that standalone 5G will benefit India's tourism, commerce and education. It also claimed the technology could deliver “infinite growth” in e-governance, education, automation, Artificial Intelligence, gaming, healthcare, agriculture, IT, and SMEs.
Reliance Jio’s standalone 5G network does not rely on a 4G backbone and uses a range of 5G spectrum across the 700MHz, 3,500MHz and 26GHz bands.
The operator expanded its network to 236 locations earlier this month.
Meanwhile, rival Bharti Airtel announced plans to expand its long-haul Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network throughout northwest India, in partnership with Ribbon Communications. The move is part of plans to deliver high speed to enterprises and optimise costs in 5G mobile backhaul.
