Airtel rolls out 4G services pan-India

Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom operator, on Thursday sought to steal early mover advantage in the keenly watched 4G telecom space and announced a nationwide launch of high-speed data services, while bundling free voice facility in some of its offerings.

Fourth generation or 4G service is several times faster than 3G and allows uninterrupted high-definition video streaming and faster uploads and downloads using mobile phones, dongles or via a hot spot.

The segment is expected to witness tough competition with the entry of Reliance Jio later this year and has prompted Airtel to launch packs at Rs 25 with plans starting for Rs 999 a month, along with unlimited voice calls and downloads for some music options with some of the higher-end packages such as Rs 1,999 plan. Free voice offering with some of the schemes is a first in the country and comes amid buzz of Reliance Jio adopting a similar strategy. While 51 cities and towns are on the 4G map, the services will be expanded to 296 towns in a couple of weeks.

“We will offer 4G services at 3G prices… We are children of competition in a way and we work in brutal marketplace and that makes us better and sharper,” said Gopal Vittal, Bharti Airtel MD & CEO for India and South Asia.

Besides, Airtel announced special deals with handset manufacturer Samsung and online marketplace Flipkart in what is seen as preparation to deal with Mukesh Ambani’s return to telecom. Vittal said Airtel was talking to various handset makers for the past one year on shaping the device ecosystem for 4G and a fall in handset prices have helped but refused to comment if the company has plans for co-branded handsets. After bagging 4G spectrum in 2010, Airtel launched services in Kolkata after two years, before expanding its footprint elsewhere.