Vodafone Idea customers, your biggest wait is over: 5G rollout starts

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has officially confirmed the launch of its 5G services in select circles. The third-biggest telecom operator in the country joined the 5G race in the country after almost one and a half years since Airtel and Jio started offering 5G services in 2022. The company took to the social media platform X (earlier Twitter) to share an official statement on the 5G rollout.


In the X post, the telco wrote: “We have successfully rolled out 5G services in accordance with Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) guidelines. A full-scale launch to all users is part of our roadmap, and we will share more details at an appropriate time.”
Apart from this, the company hasn't shared any other details about the plans that will support 5G connectivity or when to expect a full-fledged rollout and it's important to note that Vi's 5G service is not yet widely available. It's currently active in select locations across India, including major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and more.

The telco has shared a list of cities with the TOI Tech team where Vi’s 5G services are currently available:

Vi has reportedly deployed its 5G network on both the 3.3GHz and 26GHz spectrum bands. The service is also said to be available to both prepaid and postpaid subscribers on a limited scale. Several users have also taken to social media to share screenshots of their devices connected to Vi's 5G network. An X user shared screenshots to confirm the availability of Vi’s 5G service on his device. The user wrote: “#Vi5G is here. It's On NSA. Location: Supreme court metro station, Delhi”


Vi's 5G network, similar to Airtel's, is expected to use non-standalone (NSA) technology. This approach involves upgrading existing infrastructure to deliver 5G services, making it a more budget-friendly option compared to Jio's standalone (SA) 5G network. This suggests that some devices which exclusively support SA 5G, will be incompatible with Vi's network.