More than a year after its launch, 3G adoption in India remains subdued at 10-12 million users due to various issues like poor network quality as operators are cash-strapped to spend on 3G expansion, low penetration of 3G enabled handsets, unavailability of local content, absence of a killer application (similar to what SMS was for 2G) etc.

Higher spectrum prices also forced operators to offer 3G services at a premium costing almost 5 times the existing GPRS/EDGE based data plans. Read more…
Bharti Airtel today announced a new tariff plan – Break Free Ultimate for Rs 2999 offering 30 GB per month for its subscribers in Kolkata circle. Following an encouraging response from customers in Bangalore, the new similar offering will be beneficial for heavy data users in Kolkata.

Airtel 4G services in Kolkata are now available for customers with the following plans including New Plan 30 GB of Rs.2999. Read more…
Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile service operator today launches its 4G LTE – High Speed Wireless Broadband Service in Bangalore (Bengaluru -Karnataka). After Kolkata, Bangalore becomes the 2nd city in India wherein 4G-LTE services available.

Airtel has launched the service on a state-of-the-art network based on TD-LTE, making India one of the first countries in the world to commercially deploy this cutting-edge technology. Huawei is the 4G technology partner of Airtel in Karnataka circle. Airtel’s 4G (TD-LTE) network was launched by Sadananda Gowda, Cheif Minister, Karnataka at event in Bangalore.
The cost of the 4G USIM will be Rs. 49 and airtel 4G dongle will be priced at Rs 7999 and indoor wifi CPE at Rs 7750. As part of an exciting introductory offer by Airtel, customers subscribing to 4G services will now be given a 100% cashback for the dongle – thus bringing device cost to customers zero and paving way for mass adoption of 4G services. Airtel also added a new plan with more usage – Break Free Ultimate for Rs 2999 offering 30 GB per month. Read more…
Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile service operator is set to roll out its 4G - High Speed Wireless Broadband Service on May 7th 2012 in Bangalore (Karnataka). After Kolkata, Bangalore will be the 2nd city to get 4G service in India.

According to our exclusive sources close to the operator, Airtel 4G network is ready in Bangalore and commercial service network will be live from May 7, 2012 followed by official launch event. Read more…
Airtel today selected Huawei to plan and deploy its TD LTE (4G) network in Karnataka besides offering rich data content to the customers in Karnataka.
Huawei has partnered with Bharti Airtel in Sri Lanka & part of Bangladesh and is also the 3G provider in the state of Karnataka & Tamil Nadu. Besides, they are also providing pan-India 4G optical network, Carrier Ethernet infrastructure and NGN switches.
Airtel 4G LTE deployed on Huawei TD LTE technology, will allow subscribers to experience high speed wireless internet access that can support bandwidth intensive applications, support video streaming and high-definition video conferencing. Under this agreement, Huawei will deliver the LTE solution comprising of network infrastructure and devices. Read more…
Airtel began its 4G operations in the country starting from Kolkata as India’s first operator to roll out commercial 4G-LTE services. As of now Airtel offers only data services over 4G network, and offers a multimode 4G-LTE dongle (Huawei E392) and a Indoor WiFi CPE (Huawei B593). More details of Airtel 4G plans and devices can be found here.

We, team telecomtalk did get a chance to make an exclusive review of Airtel 4G at their corporate office at Infinity Building, Saltlake, Kolkata. Read more…