Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel announced that it has 6,500 mobile broadband sites in more than 7,250 towns and villages in Gujarat.
The investment in mobile network is important for Airtel because it has become the fourth largest operator in Gujarat — behind Jio. Reliance Jio became the third largest telecom operator though it introduced services in September 2016 only.
Vodafone is in the first position in Gujarat in terms of mobile subscribers, according to TRAI data for October 2017. Airtel has 9.627 million mobile phone customers in Gujarat as compared with 20.405 million for Vodafone, 12.994 million with Idea Cellular, and 10.607 million with Reliance Jio.
Airtel has installed one new 4G site every 90 minutes in the past 6 months to address mobile data demand of its subscribers.
Airtel has also enhanced its mobile backhaul capabilities and extended its fiber backbone to 12,300 KMs.
Airtel did not mention about maximum and minimum data speed available to its mobile customers in Gujarat.
Airtel network in Gujarat
# Platinum 3G services launched in Oct 2015
# 4G services launched in Oct 2016
# VoLTE services launched in Oct 2017
# Fiber backbone reaches 12,300 KMs
# Airtel 3G and 4G reaches 7,250 towns and villages
# Airtel 4G on FD LTE 1800 MHz and TD LTE 2300 MHz spectrum
# Airtel 3G on 2100 MHz spectrum
Airtel focused on expanding its geographical coverage, improvement in indoor and outdoor speeds for better broadband experience to its wireless customers in Gujarat.
“We are taking our mobile-broadband capabilities to the next level with 6500 sites in Gujarat state, backed by mobile infrastructure,” said KC Narendran, chief executive officer – Gujarat, Bharti Airtel.
Airtel said the network expansion is part of the Rs 60,000 crore Project Leap transformation program to build a future ready network. Airtel has deployed 180,000 mobile sites across India in the last two years.