Telecom companies at odds over the controversial Indian 5G standard

Concerns over efficacy as govt pushes for 5Gi

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to make a presentation detailing the pros and cons of the controversial Indian 5G standard, also known as 5Gi, which the government has been pushing for. The move comes after serious differences emerged among telcos with regard to the technology's efficacy and implementation.  

Airtel, for instance, has opposed 5Gi. It wants only the global standard of 3GPP to be implemented, arguing that the Indian standard will only increase the costs of network and mobile devices, and seriously impact inter-operability between networks based on two