Bharti Airtel is all set to launch 4G trials in Chennai from 14th May, according to sources. However, Airtel refused to confirm the news.
There are also news about the next locations to receive 4G this month, with Mumbai and Hyderabad. "The company's network to launch FDD LTE (4G) in Hyderabad is also ready even and Airtel is also requesting to upgrade their SIM cards to avail 4G services on their devices. The trials for the same is expected to start this month. In Mumbai, the company will provide TDD LTE (4G) in 2300 Mhz band. The trial for Mumbai 4G service is also planned for this month.
Airtel is planning to offer pan India 4G services using a combination of FD-LTE technology in the 1800 MHz band and TD-LTE roll-out in the 2300 MHz band. It will also be able to offer 3G across all markets except Kerala using a combination of 900 MHz and 2100 MHz.
If the next 4G launch happens in Chennai, it will become the 20th city to receive the service. Currently, Bharti Airtel has 4G services in 19 other cities, including Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune, Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula.
Earlier, the company Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal had announced its plan to expand 4G network to another 20,000 sites, besides the 20,000 it possesses now. In January, the company said that it will announce 4G in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, North East and Punjab by December 2015, Karnataka by February 2016 and Rajasthan by April 2016.
