Hyderabad is among the cities selected for testing the devices and networks related to the 5G network. The telecom ministry said the 5G network testbed project was in its final stages and would be completed by December 31. Now, the Service providers will be allowed to conduct a trial run in selected cities before rolling out the service.

Airtel, Jio, Vodafone Idea will be conducting trial runs on 5G services in Hyderabad and Chennai as well as major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Pune, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Gandhi Nagar. The 5G services will be first launched in the respective cities next year. 

The telecom department has allocated Rs. 224 crore for the 5G test-bed project in top educational institutes. The eight agencies that are working on the project for the last three years are IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Hyderabad, IIT-Madras, IIT Kanpur, IISc-Bangalore, SAMEER (Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering Research), and CEWiT (Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology).