Airtel launches 4G data on mobiles in Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel, along with Apple, Thursday launched 4G data services on mobiles in the cities of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula under the Punjab circle.

While Airtel had earlier launched 4G data services via dongles in the three cities, they now join Bengaluru as cities with such services, which offer high speed internet, on mobiles. While data browsing will be on the 4G network using TD-LTE technology, or on the 2300 Mhz band, voice calls will be routed on the 2G network seamlessly with the circuit switched fall back technology, Airtel, India's largest mobile phone operator, said in a statement.

Pre-paid customers using Apple iPhone 5S or 5C need to upgrade their existing SIM cards to a 4G SIM and then select any 4G plan or pack. The postpaid customers can customize their 4G plans by opting for an Airtel myPlan of their choice and select myPacks or myBoosters with 4G benefits.

Bharti Airtel won broadband wireless access (BWA) license and bandwidth in 2010 for Punjab, Kolkata, Karnataka, and Maharashtra & Goa circles. It has since bought the company which held the broadband licenses of US-based Qualcomm, giving Airtel access to four more service areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala. It has so far launched 4G services via dongles in the cities of Kolkata and Pune as well.

Bengaluru, where Airtel launched 4G data services in 2012, became the first city in February to get 4G data on mobiles will a fall back to voice on 2G, a system which is being replicated in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula.

Thursday, the telecom major said that its customers can walk into any of the company-operated stores in the three areas to experience live 4G demos.

Besides, iPhone 5S and 5C, Xolo LT 900 and LG G2 also support Airtel's 4G services.

Airtel customers will experience services like high definition video streaming with zero buffering, downloading 10 movies in less than 30 minutes, uploading full holiday albums in less than five minutes by uploading two high quality photos per second and also connecting multiple devices without any experience constraint.

Airtel's 4G services on TD-LTE network is built and operated by Chinese gear maker ZTE.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.