India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has confirmed that the auction of 5G spectrum will take place in 2022, with the rollout of 5G services to be carried out in the 2022-23 financial year. The Economic Times writes that the minister made the announcement as part of her Union Budget 2022-23 speech, which also included plans for a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for local manufacturing of 5G equipment. In addition, the minister unveiled plans to award contracts for deploying fibre in all villages via a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in 2022-23, with the works expected to be completed by 2025. The government also plans to use 5% of Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) contributions to finance research and development and commercialisation of solutions for the provision of affordable broadband services in rural and remote areas.
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