Bharti Airtel already revealed its intentions of upgrading 4G network across the country. After deploying the LTE 900 technology in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana circle, the telco today announced the deployment of the same technology in Punjab circle. With the implementation of LTE 900 technology, Airtel 4G users in Punjab will experience better network coverage and download speeds. "With the rollout of 4G in the superior 900 Mhz spectrum band, Punjab’s fastest* mobile network will get additional high-speed data capacity to serve its customers," said Bharti Airtel in a press statement.
Airtel Users to Get Better Indoor 4G Coverage in Punjab
In India, 4G coverage is very poor indoors, but Airtel is looking to solve the issue. Given the high propagation and reach of the 900 Mhz spectrum, Airtel smartphone customers will enjoy improved 4G availability inside buildings - homes, offices and malls. It will also result in wider availability of Airtel 4G across Punjab, further added Airtel in the statement.
Manu Sood, Hub CEO- Upper North, Bharti Airtel said, “Our endeavor is to deliver best-in-class network experience to our customers. The deployment of LTE 900 across Punjab will further boost Airtel 4G coverage, particularly inside homes and buildings. Airtel smartphone customers will enjoy a seamless high-speed data and HD quality calling experience on our upgraded network. We will continue to invest aggressively in the deployment of the latest network technologies to delight our customers.”
Airtel Network Coverage in Punjab Detailed
In Punjab, Airtel uses a solid spectrum bank - 2300 Mhz (TD LTE), 1800 Mhz (FD LTE), and 900 Mhz (LTE 900) to offer 4G services to the customers. In addition, Airtel has deployed advanced network technologies and tools such as pre-5G Massive MIMO, 4G Advanced and Carrier Aggregation to step up the capacity. In Punjab, Airtel has over 10.4 million subscribers who are served by over 26,500 sites that are backed by 18,000+ kms of Optic Fibre across the state. Airtel is making the network upgradations in Punjab as part of its Project Leap programme.
Airtel to Focus Only on Revenue Generating Customers
Bharti Airtel recently revealed its numbers for the quarter that ended on December 30, 2018. In the report, Airtel confirmed that it lost over 50 million subscribers, which brought its subscriber base to 284 million, marginally short of Jio's which is 280.1 million. Gopal Vittal, the CEO of Bharti Airtel, in the same report, confirmed that the telco would continue its focus on revenue generating customers, instead of offering free services to the customers.
With the implementation of the minimum recharge scheme, a lot of subscribers have left the network, but at the same time, a lot of them have upgraded to Airtel's 4G network. Airtel reported a 4G subscriber base of 77 million at the end of December 2018, which is double the number it reported at the end of 2017.
