Archrivals in India's telecom sector, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are focusing on different regions to take diverse paths for reaching the top when it comes to Pan India 5G coverage. Bharti Airtel started out by introducing 5G in north India and northeastern states, as opposed to Reliance Jio's focus on smaller towns and cities of western belt and southern India.
The decisive factors behind their strategies are average-revenue-per-user customers and availability of 5G-supported phones, which is why cities are in focus. The two top telcos are also prioritising states with higher subscriber base for their respective brands.
Naturally, metro cities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata received 5G services first. But even small towns such as West Bengal's Siliguri is connected to 5G through both Airtel and Jio.
Reliance Jio is also the only 5G provider for Nashik and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, and Nathdwara in Rajasthan.
Both brands are eyeing a pan India coverage for their 5G networks by the end of 2023.
