Airtel Crossed 1 Million Unique 5G Users in Less Than 30 Days of Official Release
In less than 30 days of commercial launch, Bharti Airtel has crossed the million unique 5G users mark. The new mobile network is now available in a number of cities across the country. During the first phase of roll-out, the service is live in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur, and Varanasi.
Airtel recently acquired 19,867 MHz of spectrum in the 26 GHz and 3300 MHz frequency bands. Over the last few months, the company has been conducting trials to bring 5G to customers. The company expects to have coverage across most of urban and key rural areas by March 2024.
Airtel has worked with Nokia and Ericsson in the past, but has also entered new partnership deals with Samsung. Unlike its rival Reliance Jio, Samsung has a history of working in India. Earlier, it had an exclusive agreement with Jio in the 4G RAN space. Since then, Samsung has made some significant inroads into the Indian market. The absence of Chinese vendors from the 5G contracts could have helped Samsung.
With this new 5G spectrum, the operators will now have more capacity and coverage to offer their customers. This competition will ultimately determine how 5G technology is rolled out in India. By the end of the year, residents of key cities should experience a faster internet connection than ever before.