Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed the news during a speech for Indian Union Budget in parliament and said it will bring a roll-out of the next generation telecoms service in 2022-23.
She said that 5G and the telecommunications sector can enable growth and job opportunities for the Indian people.
“Spectrum auctions will be conducted in 2022 to facilitate the roll-out of 5G mobile services within 2022-23 by private telecom providers," Sitharaman said.
"A scheme for design-led manufacturing will be launched to build a strong ecosystem for 5G as part of the production-linked incentive scheme.”
Last year, the Indian Government helped several struggling telecoms firms with a number of investments and measures including a four-year moratorium on airwaves payments.
And last month the Government revealed it took a 36% stake in the fledgling Vodafone Idea after the operator’s board approved the conversion of dues into equity.
This has helped telecoms firms’ free up cash to invest in growth and expansion with several operators now available to invest in 5G airwaves.
Sitharaman added: "A scheme for design-led manufacturing will be launched to build a strong ecosystem for 5G as part of the production-linked incentive scheme.
"This will promote R&D and commercialisation of technologies and solutions. Our mission is that all villages and their residents should have the same access to e-services, communication facilities and digital resources as urban areas and their residents.”
