Airtel launches 4G services in Chennai

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s largest communications service provider, introduced 4G high-speed Internet services in Chennai on Thursday.

Bharti Airtel was the first to launch 4G in the country in Kolkata in April 2012, mainly for enterprises.

Later in February 2014, the company rolled out 4G for mobile users in Bengaluru. The company is mostly using the 2300MHz spectrum acquired in the 2010 auction to offer 4G services, using the TD-LTE (Time division—Long term evolution) standard. In Chennai, however Bharti has rolled out FD-LTE (Frequency division) based services.

Bharti Airtel customers in Chennai can upgrade to 4G at 3G prices by visiting the company’s stores in the city and getting a 4G sim card.

“The company will use this trial phase as an opportunity to gather valuable customer feedback around the quality of its 4G services,” the statement said.

Airtel’s 4G services are already available in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Mohali, Panchkula, Patiala, Moga, Aurangabad, Phagwara, Pune, Nasik, Nagpur and Vasai-Virar-Nalasopara. The company is expected to roll out 4G services in Coimbatore and Vellore later this week, while services in Mumbai will be available by 16 May. Hyderabad will also get the services later this month.

A company spokesperson was not able to confirm a date for roll out of the services in Delhi.

According to the Bharti Airtel statement, 4G customers can download 10 movies in less than 30 minutes, upload entire photo albums in less than five minutes (two high resolution photos per second), connect multiple devices without compromising on the experience and stream high-definition videos without any buffering.

Users availing 4G-based wireless data services can access the Internet on their wireless devices like phones and tablets at a minimum of 100 megabits per second.

Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is expected to roll out its 4G based communications services later this year. The company is already testing its services in a number of cities. Aircel Ltd has also rolled out its 4G based services in four circles of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Odisha.

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