Reliance Jio Infocomm has been rapidly expanding its 5G network using Standalone (SA) architecture since October 2022

Indian carrier Reliance Jio Infocomm has covered the entire country with its 5G network ahead of the promised time frame of December 2023.

According to a statement released by broadband speed and quality measurement firm Ookla, Jio’s chairman Akash Ambani said the carrier already deployed 85% of the 5G network infrastructure in India and has the capability to deploy one 5G cell in every 10 seconds.

“I am particularly proud of our speed of the committed True 5G roll-out. Today, we have covered the entire country with a robust True 5G network ahead of our promised time frame of December 2023. 85% of the entire 5G deployment in India is made by Jio. We continue to deploy one 5G cell every 10 seconds,” Ambani said.

According to the India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT), over 338,000 base stations for 5G have been deployed across the country.

Reliance Jio Infocomm has been rapidly expanding its 5G network using Standalone (SA) architecture since October 2022. The telco has already deployed its 5G service in 7,764 cities across 36 states in India, according to the carrier’s website.

Reliance Jio had previously secured a mix of wireless spectrum for 5G across the 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz bands. Jio is the only Indian operator with the 700 MHz low-band spectrum.

Reliance Jio Infocomm has recently secured a $2 billion loan, which it will use to fund the acquisition of 5G network gear from Finnish vendor Nokia.

Jio had recently secured another loan of nearly $2 billion arranged by BNP Paribas to fund 5G network gear purchases from Swedish vendor Ericsson. For the deal with Ericsson, the Swedish export credit agency, EKN, had provided a $2.2-billion cover, according to previous reports.

Rival operator Bharti Airtel is also providing 5G in India, while Vodafone Idea is still working to launch the technology.

Last month, Reliance Jio Infocomm announced the launch of its 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) service in eight cities across the country.

The new offering, dubbed JioAirFiber, will be initially available in the cities of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

Jio said that its optical fiber infrastructure currently spans over 1.5 million kilometers across India, putting the telco in close proximity to over 200 million premises. However, Jio noted that providing physical last-mile connectivity often ends up taking a lot of time in most parts of the country, leaving millions of potential customers without home broadband, due to the complexities and delays involved in extending fiber to their premises.

Jio had previously started testing the device in some cities where its 5G services are fully operational. The devices had been sent to selected users, including some of the company’s employees, for testing, according to previous reports.

Reliance Jio Infocomm recently said it has created a dedicated 5G network slice for the provision of its 5G fixed wireless access solution. The Indian telco aims to reach 100 million connected premises in India with its FWA offering.