Bharti Airtel, India's leading operator, has successfully conducted service testing of 5G services on both the 3300 MHz (C-Band) and 26 GHz (mmWave - millimeter) bands. The test was carried out at Kharagpur in the West Bengal LSA, and the development was confirmed by the Department of Telecommunications wing of West Bengal LSA.
Also Read: Airtel Reaping the Benefits of 5G NSA Through Seamless Coverage and Experience
DoT Confirmed the Development
The testing to verify minimum rollout obligations (MRO) was conducted by the West Bengal service area wing of the Department of Telecommunications.
"Today, DoT WB LSA conducted service testing for 5G services of Bharti Airtel on both 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands at Kharagpur, West Bengal. The data speeds observed during testing were 566 Mbps for 3300 MHz and 1 Gbps for 26 GHz," the Department of Telecom WB wing shared on Twitter.
Also Read: Bharti Airtel Provides Insights on mmWave Fixed Wireless Access Plans
Gopal Vital, CEO of Bharti Airtel, has already shared the company's FWA strategy earlier. You can read about it from the link above. Bharti Airtel holds a total spectrum of 22027.7 MHz across all the bands.
Airtel's Rapid Expansion of 5G Services
Airtel was the first telco to launch 5G services in India and has been rapidly expanding its 5G services across the country since last October. Airtel 5G Plus is now available in over 3500 towns and villages across the country and has surpassed the ten million unique customer mark on its 5G network nationally. Airtel said it is well poised to cover every town and key rural area with Airtel 5G services by September 2023. Airtel is the only telco to have announced a unique 5G customer milestone in India so far.
Unique Advantage of Mid-Band Spectrum Holding
Airtel is the only telco to hold a massive mid-band spectrum, which has its own unique advantages to cater to coverage and capacity aspects of a telco and consumers. Airtel is currently offering 5G services, i.e., Airtel 5G Plus services, using the 3300 MHz and 2100 MHz bands.
Also Read: Ericsson’s Recent FWA Milestone Could Benefit Indian Telecom Market
Airtel holds 800 MHz of spectrum in the 26 GHz (TDD) band PAN India, which the telco can use to deliver Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services to consumers and businesses. However, Airtel has a unique advantage of delivering FWA services using 3300 MHz and 2100 MHz as well, as discussed in our story linked above.
