In October, Bharti Airtel initially launched 5G services in seven Indian cities
Indian telco Bharti Airtel is already providing 5G services in 17 cities across the country, according to local press reports.
In October, Bharti Airtel launched 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi.
The offering is also currently available in parts of Panipat, Gurugram, Guwahati, Patna, Lucknow, Shimla, Imphal, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar
Additionally, the carrier aims to launch 5G in the city of Kolkata in the near future, according to local press reports.
Airtel’s 5G offering has been deployed in a number of airports, including the Kempegowda International airport of Bengaluru, Lohegaon airport in Pune, Lal Bahadur Shastri International airport in Varanasi, Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Nagpur and Patna airport.
Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Mittal had previously said that most parts of the country will be covered by 5G by March 2023.
The Indian operator is currently using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services. The Indian operator had secured a total of 19,800 megahertz of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands in a recent auction carried out by the Indian government. Airtel is deploying 5G using a NonStandalone (NSA) network infrastructure.
In November, Bharti Airtel said it had already reached 1 million 5G customers.
Meanwhile, rival operator Reliance Jio Infocomm already launched the beta trial of its 5G services in parts of Mumbai, Varanasi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Nathdwara, Pune, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gujarat.
Currently, Reliance Jio is rolling out 5G on 700 MHz and 3.3 GHz bands while Bharti Airtel is deploying 5G technology via the 3.3 GHz spectrum band. Jio is offering 5G services via Standalone (SA) architecture.
While Reliance Jio has announced plans to reach nationwide coverage with 5G by December next year, Bharti Airtel aims to offer full 5G coverage across India by March 2024.
Vodafone Idea is in talks with several venders for the supply of 5G gear. The telco is also seeking to obtain financial resources for the launch of its 5G network.
Indian state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) could launch 5G services by August of next year, according to recent press reports.
Indian operators have already deployed almost 21,000 5G base stations across the country as of the end of November, according to data from the country’s Department of Telecom (DoT).
