ITV

Tag: Airtel

  • Mukesh Ambani to invest Rs 250,000 crore for ‘Digital India’

    Mukesh Ambani to invest Rs 250,000 crore for ‘Digital India’

    MUMBAI: The country’s telecom giants have committed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plan to connect 2.5 lakh villages across India by 2019 at the launch of ‘Digital India Week’ in New Delhi.

     

    Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani began his address stating how, for the first time, the government, which usually lags behind industries, has taken a step ahead of them by conceiving ‘Digital India’. “Historically, the industry has moved faster than government in India, but with the ‘Digital India’ scheme, the government has overtaken the industry,” he said.

     

    “The youth today aspires for merit based opportunities and progress which ‘Digital India’ will ensure them and we at Reliance Industries commit to achieving that goal with an investment of Rs 250,000 crore,” Ambani announced.

     

    Addressing the infrastructure aspect, Ambani revealed his plans to create an all IP next generation wireless broadband infrastructure across all 29 states in India. Secondly, Reliance Jio will set up a nationwide distribution network that will enable 150,000 small electronic retailers to sell and service smartphones and internet devices.

     

    Not just that, Reliance Jio is in talks with leading device manufacturers to invite them to make smartphones and internet devices at an affordable rate in India. “We will give them assured off-take from our retail system,” said Ambani, who stressed that his company is committed to make necessary investment and strongly partner with central and state government on e-governance, and other services that ‘Digital India’ will provide.

     

    Though Mukesh Ambani set quite high standards for investors in their contribution to ‘Digital India,’ others who followed him didn’t fail to make their promises worth looking forward to.

     

    Take his brother Anil Ambani for example.  While most of the business leaders focused on manufacturing and infrastructure to penetrate in the remote areas, Anil Ambani addressed an important aspect of ‘Digital India’: a paper-free India powered by a gigantic database.

     

    “A crucial prerequisite to Digital India’s success is the availability of unlimited cloud computing power, whose building block is a digital database of the mission,” pointed out Anil Ambani.

     

    Reliance Group is the largest provider of data center facility, with its 11 data center connected by India’s largest terrestrial fiber network and world’s largest submarine cable structure, which Anil Ambani plans to double to 1.2 million sq ft in two years.

     

    The Reliance Group chairman also announced a first of its kind initiative — five fully operational cloud exchange points. “Each of these will give government departments 240 times the computing power currently available to their data centers and their efficiency  will scale up 100 per cent in every 90 days, as ‘Digital India’ will gather momentum,” he said, followed by an investment promise of Rs10,000 crore to the project.

     

    Bharati Airtel too assured a ‘meaningful contribution’. Bharati Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharati Mittal said, “We at Airtel are fully committed to stand by the government’s revolutionary initiative in the digital space. We plan to invest in excess of Rs 100, 000 crore or USD 16 billion in infrastructure in rural and urban regions alike. We also plan to make 4G available to the masses.”

     

    Mittal hailed Modi as a ‘digitally native man’ and the right person to lead India in this digital revolution. He also mentioned about Bharati Enterprises’ active involvement in promoting eHealth in villages and also collaborate with manufacturers to start making devices and services within India.

  • HOOQ targets tier I Indian cities as early adopters; plans original series

    HOOQ targets tier I Indian cities as early adopters; plans original series

    MUMBAI: Come June and India will witness its first subscription based video-on-demand platform HOOQ.

     

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the platform will compete with over the top (OTT) players like Hotstar and Ditto TV amongst others. As a major differentiating factor, HOOQ will be providing content that has not been available before to Indian consumers and intends to target tier I cities in the country as early adopters. However, the app will be available to all smart phone users nationally. The service also offers content for all age groups.

     

    The OTT player is in the Indian market for the long haul. With a view to gather substantial number of users in the coming years, HOOQ is also looking at starting its own original series, a la Netflix, which had launched its exclusive made-for-web series House of Cards.

     

    In a conversation with this website about its readiness to improve the platform, HOOQ India head Krishnan Rajagopalan said, “We are constantly going to be evolving the product and the content based on user feedback. This is very much a company philosophy and it’s really up to the user to give us feedback. The better feedback you give, the better the product will be.”

     

    When queried whether the Indian audience is ready for a particular genre, which has more traction Rajagopalan said, “We are going to have different categories. The app will have all Indian languages and feeds and by the time we launch it will be more Indianised. It will be much more relevant, have genres that matter, top action, top rom-com; we will have it all.”

     

    Talking about the Indian market, Rajagopalan said that since India was a fascinating market, there are bound to be challenges. “This is a first product in its category. I don’t think there is anybody doing what we are doing, which is to offer premium content that is not there on ad supported platforms. So we are spending a lot of money, tens of millions on marketing, content and technology. A major challenge is that there will be a lot of consumer education required in the early days and we clearly need to have the right content. We need to have the right distribution partnerships to make it as convenient to the consumer as possible. Not necessarily a challenge, but there are steps that we need to take before we become ubiquitous.”

     

    While the company has not yet chalked out its marketing strategy, plans are to take ‘Go To Market’ (GTM) marketing route when the service’s commercial launch takes place in June.

     

    Speaking about Warner Bros’ association with HOOQ, Warner Bros general manager N Muthuram said, “Singtel will have a strategic presence in the Indian market with their partnership with Airtel. While we are licensed to HOOQ, we also have other local partners and we have been providing content to others as well. The deal with HOOQ is to have access to all of the content that is relevant to the consumer.”

     

    As reported earlier, the platform will have 10,000 movies and series from Hollywood, Bollywood and regional content for just Rs 199 a month. HOOQ is a joint venture with Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. It will provide content from international as well as local players and has already partnered with 60 local partners.

  • Airtel launches 4G trials in Mumbai; partners Flipkart, Samsung

    Airtel launches 4G trials in Mumbai; partners Flipkart, Samsung

    MUMBAI: The 4G wave is picking up pace in the country with telcos scrambling to roll out its services and offers to gain subscriber traction. Global telecommunications company Bharti Airtel has now launched 4G trials exclusively for its existing customers in Mumbai.

     

    As part of this, Airtel customers across the city can now avail a complimentary upgrade to Airtel 4G at 3G prices and be the first to experience blazing Airtel 4G speeds. The company will use this trial phase as an opportunity to gather customer feedback around the quality of its 4G services and assimilate these market insights into Airtel’s wider agenda of building a world-class 4G network infrastructure for the city.

     

    Additionally, Airtel has also inked go-to-market partnerships with Samsung and Flipkart to proliferate 4G devices and transition more and more customers to experience the fastest browsing experience.

     

    Bharti Airtel Mumbai, Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat hub CEO Ashok Ganapathy said, “As an increasing number of Indians show a preference for consuming data and content over their mobile devices, we at Airtel are excited to bring the power of 4G to our customers in Mumbai. While launching Platinum 3G, we significantly augmented our network and now have made further investments in building a robust 4G network here. For us, delivering a compelling service experience to our customers is our utmost priority. We want our existing customers to be the first ones to enjoy the Airtel 4G experience and are offering them a free upgrade to Airtel 4G at the same price as 3G. We look forward to our customers’ valuable feedback towards delivering a truly world-class 4G experience in Mumbai.”

     

    To avail this offer, existing Airtel customers with 4G ready mobile devices can walk into any of Airtel’s retail touch points across Mumbai and upgrade to a 4G SIM and experience high mobile internet speeds.

     

    As part of the deal with Samsung India, the two companies have decided to promote each other’s 4G offerings at their respective outlets. Samsung India’s retail stores will now facilitate easy Airtel 4G SIM swap for customers buying 4G smart phones. In the weeks to come, Samsung will also offer bundled Airtel 4G SIMs along with Samsung 4G handsets available in the Indian market. Airtel 4G double data offers are now available for Samsung’s Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A5 mobile devices. Samsung will also be looking at launching its all new Core Prime 4G mobile smartphone in Airtel 4G markets.

     

    Flipkart, on the other hand, will be offering Airtel 4G with double the data benefits for customers buying select 4G handsets. Flipkart-exclusive 4G devices (including brands like Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo, Asus and Huawei) that will soon come bundled with an Airtel 4G SIM. While existing Airtel customers will be able to follow a quick SMS registration process to activate 4G, non-Airtel customers buying their 4G device from Flipkart will be guided through a simple process to smoothly transition to the Airtel 4G network.

     

    Airtel’s 4G services are now available across India including Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chandigarh and Amritsar.

  • Vserv to offer solutions to telcos & DTH operators

    Vserv to offer solutions to telcos & DTH operators

    MUMBAI: Smart data platform for mobile marketing in India and Southeast Asia – Vserv has forayed into the burgeoning commerce space.

     

    In an industry-first move, Vserv will now provide an end-to-end solution for telcos and DTH operators, right from the discovery of customers to the transaction of services. This step will empower consumer-facing companies to utilize the combined power of Vserv Smart Data platform and commerce solution.

     

    With this added capability, Vserv will enable telcos to promote segmented offers across data and voice. By driving these transactions, Vserv enhances average revenue per user (ARPU) for telcos. For DTH operators, this translates into selling segmented channel packs leading to a major jump in subscriptions and higher revenue.

     

    Vserv co-founder and CEO Dippak Khurana said, “We saw the opportunity to redefine the relevance, simplicity and convenience of these services for the customer. Vserv’s massive reach of 120 million unique users in India combined with this commerce solution creates a disruptive development in the mobile Internet ecosystem. While our Smart Data platform is a revolutionary offering for mobile marketing, with our commerce solution, we now complete a user’s journey from intent to purchase. This unique proposition provides a powerful opportunity for consumer-facing companies, which are seeking to tap into the growing mobile Internet user base. We have always challenged the status quo and this offering is a gigantic leap towards bringing about a radical shift in the ecosystem.”

     

    The Vserv commerce solution delivering relevance, simplicity and convenience works on a four- pronged approach of: discovery (identifying the right user with Vserv Smart Data), promotion (engaging the user with segmented offers), payment (enabling seamless transaction for the user) and activation (quick and easy activation of the service).

     

    The total revenue of telco and DTH services in India stood at around $31 billion in 2014, and is currently growing at a rate of 10 per cent per annum. Within this, the share of digital commerce is close to 10 per cent and is expected to grow by 300 per cent in the next four years. This growth will be fuelled by the rapidly expanding Internet user base, which is expected to reach 500 million users by 2018, 80 per cent of which will be contributed by mobile users. With the largest mobile Internet user base in India and its unique proposition of enabling commerce for consumer-facing companies, Vserv is strategically positioned to capture a sizeable market share.

  • Telecom Ministry sets up committee to study net neutrality

    Telecom Ministry sets up committee to study net neutrality

    NEW DELHI: Even as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently issued a Consultation Paper on over-the-top (OTT) services, the Telecom Ministry has set up a committee of its own to examine the whole issue of Internet usage in the country including the newly-highlighted debate on net neutrality.

     

    Telecom Ministry director (security) R Shakiya said that the committee was expected to finalise its recommendations towards the latter half of next month.

     

    Although there was no plan for the committee to give a hearing to stakeholders before finalising its report, he assured stakeholders present at a meet organised by ASSOCHAM that he would forward its request to the Minister in this regard.

     

    Meanwhile, he made it clear that OTT meant communication services like WhatsApp or WebChat and not sites related to e-governance. Similarly, internet governance is independent of net neutrality.

     

    He also said that Digital India was a delivery-oriented scheme and it would be erroneous to confuse it with Internet growth.

     

    Meanwhile, he added that India had asked the International Telegraphic Union (ITU) to conduct a study into how the traceability of the user can be brought in the present regulations.

     

    ASSOCHAM itself is also expected to form a paper on net neutrality.

     

    ASSOCHAM chairman for the National Council on Telecommunications T V Ramachandran, while holding that he was all for net neutrality and there was no reason for consumers to pay extra for services foisted on them, said telecom corporations have been discriminated against and wanted them to find ways to avoid this as far as net neutrality is concerned. 

     

    He cited a US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) statement, which said that these “…new service offerings, depending on how they are structured, could benefit consumers and competition.” The FCC, however, has ruled against a move that violated net neutrality principles.

     

    The net neutrality debate has arisen after Airtel launched a platform called Zero on which Internet companies could sign up to allow its users free-of-cost access.

     

    Other speakers included Pradeep Kumar Verma, who is a Scientist with the Department of Information Technology, and ASSOCHAM senior director Ajay Sharma among others.

     

    A representative of Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) wondered if TRAI, which sought views by 24 April, should interfere as net neutrality was more a matter of content than carriage and the regulator only dealt with carriage issues. He felt that the best body to deal with the issue was the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

     

    Meanwhile, in its paper on OTT, TRAI devoted one full chapter on net neutrality. It suggested that to ensure a thriving and neutral Internet, the issues that needed to be addressed are:

     

    i. The Internet must be kept open and neutral. Reachability between all endpoints connected to the Internet, without any form of restriction, must be maintained.

     

    ii. All data traffic should be treated on an equitable basis no matter its sender, recipient, type, or content. All forms of discriminatory traffic management, such as blocking or throttling should be prohibited.

     

    iii. Network service providers should refrain from any interference with internet users’ freedom to access content (including applications of their choice).

     

    iv. There should be restricted use of packet inspection software (including storage and re-use of associated data) to control traffic.

     

    v. Complete information on reasonable traffic management practices and justifications for the same must be accessible and available to the public. TSPs should be transparent and accountable to any changes in practices.

     

    vi. Non-neutral treatment of traffic for “voluntary” law enforcement purposes must be prohibited unless there is a legal basis for it.

     

    In view of this, TRAI sought to ask the stakeholders about their views on net-neutrality in the Indian context; what forms of discrimination or traffic management practices are reasonable and consistent with a pragmatic approach; what should or can be permitted; should the TSPs be mandated to publish various traffic management techniques used for different OTT applications; and how should the conducive and balanced environment be created such that TSPs are able to invest in network infrastructure and CAPs are able to innovate and grow. 

     

  • After Flipkart, Airtel responds to Net Neutrality controversy

    After Flipkart, Airtel responds to Net Neutrality controversy

    MUMBAI: Net neutrality activists and the Indian netizen’s valiant effort marked its first goal as after e-commerce giant Filpkart backed out from its deal with Airtel for Airtel Zero, the telecom tycoon has now issued an explanation on various controversies.

     

    Airtel, in its statement, said that it fully supports the concept of net neutrality. “There have been some misconceptions about our toll free data platform – Airtel Zero. It is a not a tariff proposition but is an open marketing platform that:

     

    * Allows any application or content provider to offer their service on a toll free basis to their customers who are on our network.

     

    * Such customers whether on a data pack or not will therefore be able to access these toll free services free of charge.

     

    * No site whether on the toll free platform or not under any circumstances is blocked, throttled or provided any form of preferential access.

     

    * The toll free platform is open to all content providers on a completely non discriminatory basis and operates on the same principle as 1-800 toll free voice services.”

     

    Airtel further said, “The statement made by Flipkart regarding its decision to not offer toll free data service to its customers is consistent with our stand that Airtel Zero is not a tariff proposition. It is merely an open platform for content providers to provide toll free data services. The platform remains open to all companies who want to offer these toll free data services to their customers on a completely non discriminatory basis.”

     

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Flipkart issued a statement saying that the company has always strongly believed in the concept of net neutrality. While it backed off from Airtel Zero, the company also said that it was committed to the larger cause of net neutrality in India.

  • AIB turns activist; ignites movement on net neutrality

    AIB turns activist; ignites movement on net neutrality

    MUMBAI: Not long ago stand-up comedy group All India Bakchod (AIB) was directly or indirectly labeled as ‘anti-socials’ because of the controversial roast they uploaded on social media platform, which was eventually pulled down. The same group has now made a sincere attempt to explain the complicated concept of “Net Neutrality” to the common man. And their attempt has been successful with the video going viral and how.

     

    Net neutrality is something that every taxpayer deserves but no one cares for. It’s often regarded as technical jargon. However, AIB’s “Save The Internet” video has changed the perception and now a lot of people are aware of the impending catastrophe.

     

    What is Net Neutrality?

     

    Net Neutrality means every user will have the right to access whichever website she or he wants to. There will be no infringement from anybody and certain websites won’t be given more bandwidth than others. Amazon or The Times Of India, Flipkart or Indiantelevision.com, every website will load at the same speed and that is exactly what Net Neutrality means. And that’s the problem telecom operators have.

     

    Where it started from:

     

    Indian telecom operators lobbied to The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to change certain rules as per their convenience, which would have a direct impact on the consumer’s pocket. TRAI, in response to the telecos on 27 March, released a 118-page long consultation bulletin, which concluded by asking 20 questions. The last date to respond to that bulletin electronically is 24 April, 2015 while all the counter responses can be sent till 8 May, 2015.

     

    What all can change?

     

    No, telecom companies are not restricting any particular website so you can be rest assured that another ban is not coming into play. The demand is to access certain genres that users have to pay separately for. The question then arises: What are the users paying the initial fee for?

     

    The scenario that can emerge from the change is; to access Flipkart, Whatsapp, Facebook or any other established OTT service, one has to separately subscribe for it. The freedom to access any website independently will be infringed upon and the internet, which is probably the only free platform where one can express their opinion, will become a claustrophobic cozy club dominated by big names.

     

    Who all will face the impact?

     

    Not only users but the change will also vigorously affect all aspiring entrepreneurs and start-ups. It is easy for established ventures like Flipkart, which is supporting telecom operators, to pay the service providers and ask them to make their app freely available. However, that will leave an impact on the start-ups who don’t have the luxury of cracking a deal with telecom operators. The irony is that when the Prime Minister is delivering speeches in France and Germany about how easy it is to do business in India and sharing aspirations of making the country a global destination for investment, Indian e-commerce startups are on the verge of demolition.

     

    What did AIB do?

     

    The stand up comedians came up with a video (Save the Internet) explaining the entire concept of net neutrality. What was lost and diluted in TRAI’s 118 page long complicated bulletin was garnished in AIB’s nine-minute video. The important points were highlighted and the refreshing yet simple explanation that AIB members’ offered in the video added to the appeal and was lapped up by young and old alike. The Net Neutrality jargon thus became a national movement.

     

    What did AIB’s video do?

     

    AIB’s video conveys this message – “Internet is not a luxury but a utility.” The video ends with a link, which directs people to the net neutrality home page where all of TRAI’s 20 have been answered in detail. One can simply click to send an email with the pre-written answers or can edit as per their wish. At the time of filing this report, AIB’s video had received 1,132,453 views and more than 100,000 emails had been sent to TRAI through the http://www.netneutrality.in/ website.

     

    How to join the movement?

     

    One can be a part of the movement by logging on savetheinternet.in and forwarding the email to the regulatory authority. One can also sign this petition at:https://www.change.org/p/rsprasad-trai-don-t-allow-differential-pricing-… and share it with your friends or write directly to TRAI at advqos@trai.gov.in about their thoughts before 24 April, 2015.

     

    Conclusion:

     

    The AIB video witnessed unabated praise across all social media platforms from the common man and celebrities alike. It brought about the necessary awareness in India and made Net Neutrality a national issue. The Internet is a very important part of the civilized world and a major source of information, entertainment and social networking. Net Neutrality is a right of every Internet subscriber and cannot be infringed at any cost. While the issue has managed to become a major talking point, one only hopes that political parties don’t politicize the issue and turn it into vote bank propaganda because Internet without Net Neutrality is like bones without flesh.

     

  • Airtel seeks West Bengal govt permission for Wi-Fi hotspots in Kolkata

    Airtel seeks West Bengal govt permission for Wi-Fi hotspots in Kolkata

    KOLKATA: War for internet data market seems to intensify in Kolkata as telecom operator Bharti Airtel is in the process of seeking permission from the West Bengal government to create Wi-Fi hotspots across the city to push data usage.

     

    “We have sought permission from the state government to create hotspots across the city as we are also looking at Wi-Fi service to consumers,” Airtel CEO (Bengal & Odhisa) R S Negi said, on the sidelines of launching company’s 3G service in the Kolkata circle on its recently acquired The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) 900 Mhz spectrum.

     

    In February, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the company owned by Mukesh Ambani’s flagship Reliance Industries, rolled out a free 4G Wi-Fi service at Park Street, enabling Kolkata as the first metro city with a 4G-enabled high-speed internet service. The company last week said that four more areas of Kolkata will turn into Wi-Fi enabled zones by next month. The company, which is investing around Rs 3,300 crore to roll out 4G in Bengal, plans to offer the free service as part of a sampling experiment. The official commercial launch will take place later.

     

    Data is turning out to be major focus for the telecom companies, experts said.

     

    While Negi declined to give financial numbers, he said that half of the incremental revenue for Bharti Airtel comes from data services.

     

    He also informed that the company may use 3G or 4G network to fire the Wi-Fi service or in a combination of both depending on the situation.

     

    Airtel is already offering free Wi-Fi on two bus routes, as trial to this mode of service, since late last year.

     

    According to Negi, the new 3G service branded as Platinum 3G will offer better speed for consumers and better outdoor and indoor coverage, while adding that the company is not tweaking with the existing 3G tariff for consumers.

     

    However, the new 3G is only for Kolkata and not Rest of West Bengal (RoWB) circle. Kolkata is the second circle for 3G service based on UMTS 900 after Mumbai for Airtel.

     

    “With the launch of Platinum 3G, Airtel customers of Kolkata can browse the internet 122 per cent faster than any other 3G network, get 36 per cent better indoor coverage and enjoy extended battery life. Additionally, users can stream videos 144  per cent faster than the existing speed. Customers need not to pay extra to avail this superior connectivity and can enjoy Platinum 3G at the existing 3G tariffs,” he said.

     

    This 3G services in Kolkata on the 900 Mhz spectrum will offer better speed than when these services are offered on another bandwidth.

     

    The 3G network in Kolkata is likely to be managed by Nokia Networks, which already has the operations & maintenance mandate for its 2G and 4G networks in the city.

     

  • Airtel launches ‘Airtel Zero’

    Airtel launches ‘Airtel Zero’

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel, has announced the launch of ‘Airtel Zero’ – an open marketing platform that will allow customers to access mobile applications at zero data charges. Akin to the established concept of toll-free voice calling, ‘Airtel Zero’ will allow everyone from big marketers to small-time application developers to make parts or their entire mobile app free for customers – thus reviving interest of dormant customers, attracting new potential users and increasing retention. The platform will be a big win for customers as it will allow them to access their favourite mobile applications at no data charges, and also encourage them to try out new applications.

     

    “We are excited to launch ‘Airtel Zero’, which is an open and non-discriminatory marketing platform for all developers in India – irrespective of the size of their business. We believe that this platform is consistent with India’s Digital Inclusion agenda and also contributes to the government’s ‘Make in India’ vision by providing a platform to millions of small businesses to reach out to the end consumer,” said Srini Gopalan, Director – Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel (India).

     

    Specifically, ‘Airtel Zero’ can work as a highly efficient marketing mechanism for small developers or startup shops that face budget constraints towards driving promotions and app downloads. “The results of our pilot program indicate that ‘Airtel Zero’ can deliver the same results as traditional digital marketing channels at 1/3rdthe cost – thus underscoring the immense value it can deliver for developers across. Following an extremely successful pilot phase, we are seeing a lot of interest from businesses across the board (including several small startup firms), and expect a large number of applications to sign on. We invite all application developers to register their interest in ‘Airtel Zero’ and see the compelling reach it can deliver to Airtel’s 200 million plus customers across India” added Gopalan.

     

  • Airtel launches Platinum 3G in India; Mumbai first city for launch

    Airtel launches Platinum 3G in India; Mumbai first city for launch

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel is all set to enthral Mumbaikars with the launch of its Platinum 3G service. Winning the 900 MHz band in September 2013, Airtel will be using it to complement the existing 2100 Mhz resulting into greater speed and connectivity. 

     

    Being the first telecom operator in India to launch Platinum 3G, Airtel will offer the services of Platinum 3G at existing 3G tariff. Mumbai is the primary Indian city to experience the superior connectivity. The company has further plans to extend the services to Kolkata. 

     

    Airtel Platinum 3G is India’s best 3G network offering a variety of benefits. Till date, Airtel has 50 lakh subscribers in Mumbai and claims to be the only network that works on the Platinum band. Airtel customers in Mumbai can browse the Internet 34 per cent faster, get 30 per cent better indoor coverage and enjoy 16 per cent longer extended battery life. Additionally, users can stream videos 25 per cent faster than the existing speed.

     

    Bharati Airtel India Mumbai Maharashtra, Goa Gujarat Hub CEO Ashok Ganpathy said, “As a leader in the telecommunication space it is our endeavour at Airtel to consistently innovate and provide a seamless network to our customers. The launch of Platinum 3G is an integral part of this commitment to enhance customer satisfaction by providing superior connectivity on existing 3G tariffs. Considering this we would now like to invite data savvy customers in Mumbai to enjoy this world class experience.”

     

    Airtel signed a contract with data networking and telecom equipment company, Nokia Networks to enhance its 3G network in Mumbai. As part of the deal, a dual band, dual carrier 3G network has been set up at Mumbai, reframing 900 MHz to complement the city’s existing 3G network on 2100 MHz. This is expected to enable higher throughput and thus improved 3G services for Bharti Airtel’s customers.