Govt nudges Apple, Samsung and others to release 5G updates

India's government will push Apple, Samsung and other mobile phone manufacturers to prioritise rolling out software upgrades to support 5G in the country, amid concerns that many of their models are not ready for the recently launched high-speed service.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 5G services on Oct. 1 amid much fanfare, with leading telecom operator Reliance Jio saying it would make the service available in four cities and rival Bharti Airtel in eight.

Both companies said the service would be expanded next year.

But Apple's iPhone models, including the latest iPhone 14, and many of Samsung's premier phones do not have software compatible for supporting 5G in India, according to three industry sources and Airtel's website.

Concerned by this, top bureaucrats from India's telecoms and IT departments will chair a meeting on Wednesday for early 5G adoption, asking smartphone executives from foreign companies Apple, Samsung, Vivo and Xiaomi, as well as domestic telecom operators Reliance, Airtel and Vodafone Idea to be present, according to a government document seen by Reuters.