India will end 2015 with 5.8M LTE subscribers
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has launched its 4G LTE services in 296 towns and cities across India. Bharti Airtel had initially launched India’s first 4G LTE network in Kolkata in April 2012, through spectrum in the 2300 MHz band. The telco’s 4G is available to customers across a range of smart devices including mobile phones, dongles, 4G hot spots and Wi-Fi dongles.
Apart from Kolkata, the operator’s LTE service was also commercially available in Bengaluru, Pune Nagpur, Nasik, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Phagwara, Patiala, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigargh, Panchkula and Mohali. With this recent launch, Bharti Airtel’s LTE network reaches 310 towns and cities across the Asian nation.
“With the help of the feedback received from the beta launches, we have now built India’s first commercial 4G network that will make high-speed mobile broadband a reality,” Gopal Vittal, the company’s managing director and CEO, said.
“Airtel has become the first to officially launch a pan-India LTE service. They have been preparing for this for some time but it was also critical that they launch before Reliance Jio,” IDC Asia Pacific associate director Shiv Putcha told RCR Wireless News.
“This will help position Airtel as an innovative company by being the first to launch LTE and also help position them as the No. 1 player in India. I expect that they will also play up the fact that they have the widest network coverage in India relative to the other 4G players,” Putcha said.
The analyst also highlighted the agreement signed between Airtel and Samsung for LTE devices. The Indian telco also inked a deal with Flipkart to offer LTE devices through an e-store. “All in all, they seem to be taking a more open ecosystem approach to LTE, which is in direct contrast to Reliance Jio, which is trying to do everything in-house,” the analyst said.
Rival operator Reliance Jio is expected to launch LTE in India by the end of this year. The LTE service will be offered through spectrum in the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands. Reliance has had a pan-India LTE license in the 2300 MHz band since 2010. “Competition will be fierce, even if limited in scope, as LTE will not be truly nationwide at the start. I expect that the real competition will be between Airtel and Reliance Jio,” Putcha added.
According to IDC, India will end 2015 with 5.8 million LTE subscribers. By the end of 2016, the country is expected to reach a total of 14 million customers in the LTE segment.
