Bharati Airtel is planning to launch India’s first 4G Technology Services. It will be inaugurated by Communications Minister Kapil Sibal in Kolkata on Tuesday.
“We are expecting Communications Minister Kapil Sibal tomorrow,” a senior company executive said.
A successor to the 3G and 2G families, 4G is expected to be five times quicker than 3G services. It would offer services such as high-definition mobile TV and video conferencing.
Airtel has selected Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE to manage its services in Kolkata.
The firm bagged BWA spectrum in four circles — Kolkata, Maharastra, Punjab and Karnataka — for Rs.3,314.36 crore in 2010 along with other players including Reliance Infotel (earlier known as Infotel Broadband Services), Qualcomm, Tikona, Aircel and Augere.
While Infotel became the only player to win a pan-India licence, Qualcomm bagged licences in four circles, Tikona in five circles, Aircel in eight circles and Augere in one circle.
The auction fetched the exchequer over Rs.38,500 crore.
With this launch Airtel will become the first player to launch the 4G service in India. The company said that launch of the service in other circles will happen soon.
The other players are yet to announce plans to roll-out 4G services.