NEW DELHI (Reuters – India’s finance Minister stated Tuesday that India will auction 5G spectrum this year. The move would kickstart a launch of next-generation telecoms services on the 2nd-largest wireless market in the world by the end March 2023.

New Delhi will also offer incentives for more local design-led manufacture to increase 5G in India, Nirmala Sitharaman stated in a speech to parliament while revealing the fiscal budget 2022-23.

Peeyush Vasish, partner at Deloitte India and chief telecom sector officer said that 5G roll-out across India will happen faster than previous generations.

India’s Federal Government announced late last year measures that would help the cash-strapped telecom sector. They will include a four-year suspension on payments to airwaves and allow mobile carriers to turn interest owed to New Delhi into equity.

This has allowed telecom companies to free up capital for growth and expansion. It could make the 5G auction in this country, which is expected to take place between three of India’s main operators – Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel – a heated bidding competition (NASDAQ: Idea).

Jio, the telecoms venture owned by oil-to–retail conglomerate Reliance Industries has said previously it would be India’s first to offer 5G service.

India boasts more than one billion subscribers to wireless networks. This market power prompted tech giants Facebook and Google (NASDAQ) to invest roughly $10 billion in Jio, India’s largest mobile operator in 2020.

Google announced that it would invest $1 billion to acquire Jio’s rival Bharti Airtel. The plan, which was revealed last month, has been expanded by Google.

(This article corrects paragraph 3 to read Finance Minister.