Bharti Airtel gearing up to roll out 4G services in 300 towns
Posted on: 07/Aug/2015 10:37:19 AM
Bharti Airtel Ltd, India`s top cellular carrier is making expansion with its fourth generation mobile phone services by covering 300 towns in the next few weeks down the line.
The increasing demand for data services is met by the purchase of telecom airways by large number of customers in India, spending billions of dollars. India, to note is the world`s second largest market place for mobile phones.
Airtel is urging to make its market strong ahead of its competitor Reliance Jio a telecom unit of Reliance Industries Ltd (RRELI.NS) which is planning to set up its 4G services in December.
It was in the year 2012 that Bharti Airtel launched its 4G network services in the city of Kolkata. Currently, trial runs are on at 51 towns. In the coming weeks, about 296 towns will be covered in 14 of all its 22 service areas, said the Chief Executive of the company, Gopal Vittal. He added that this is a highly competitive market which keeps them on their toes at all times.
Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio got the airways required for providing 4G services 5 years ago. However, owing to technology issues and lack of needed devices, both were slow in rolling out their services.
Use of internet and smartphones have increased with the proliferation of cheaply available smartphones from China. 4G services are faster in services than 3G for use on mobile phones, tablets and laptops.
Between the years 2013 and 2017, a 28 percent increase in use of smartphones is expected which will count to 314 billion users as of end of 2017, says report from Internet and Mobile Association of India and KPMG.
Vittal says Bharti Airtel has eyed on rolling out its 4G services as the prices of devices have started coming down.
