Telecom operator Bharti Airtel today announced its network expansion plans in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under the company's dedicated network expansion programme- Project Leap. Airtel announced that it would add more than 15,000 new mobile sites in FY 2018-19 in the circle along with an addition of more than 3000 kms of the optic fibre. Alongside stepping up its 4G data capacities and taking services deeper into rural and unconnected areas, the massive rollout would mean the addition of one new site per hour in the cities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Airtel also plans to deploy pre-5G Massive MIMO technology across major business and residential hubs in the two states to step up high-speed data experience for customers.
For the uninitiated, Massive MIMO expands network capacities by 5-7 times on the same spectrum and delivers faster data speeds despite a large number of concurrent users at the same location. Airtel had recently deployed the solution at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad during the IPL 2018 matches and also stated that it received very good feedback from customers.
In FY 2017-18, Airtel installed more than 10,000 new sites in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, extending its mobile broadband footprint to over 85% of the population in the two states.
“As India’s leading mobile network, we are committed to providing a world-class experience to our customers and are committed significant investments this year to expand our high-speed data footprint across the two geographies. This will further boost the coverage and data speeds and deliver a superior user experience. Leveraging the latest capabilities of our spectrum portfolio, Airtel will benefit from an end-to-end solution that can deliver a truly on-demand experience for its customers,” said Avneet Singh Puri, Chief Executive Officer – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Bharti Airtel.
To give a brief about Bharti Airtel in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana states, the telco launched 4G services on 1800 MHz spectrum in May 2015, and the 4G services on 2300 MHz were launched in January 2017. Airtel also introduced its VoLTE services in the two states in October 2017. Currently, Airtel is covering 331 census towns and villages in both states combined out of 354.
