Airtel Test Launches 3G Service in 3 Metros
The Economic Times reports that Airtel has launched its 3G mobile services in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore on a test basis.
Sanjay Kapoor, Bharti Airtel President (Mobility) told PTI
“We have tested 3G applications at three places – Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore – on a trial indoor spectrum given to us,”
Since the announcement by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to allocate the 3G spectrum by auctioning, all the major players have been gearing up for providing the 3G access to its subscribers in the city.
Airtel refused give details regarding the network vendors that Airtel is sourcing the 3G
equipments from but said they are dealing with more than one network companies.
On question that whether Airtel has the technology to offer 3G services, Kapoor said,
“We as an operator have 3G services in Seychelles. Our license for Sri Lanka is for 3G services as well and by the time 3G services are launched in India we will have enough experience. Moreover, we have SingTel as our partner who has wide experience of offering 3G services,”
He further added that 3G is just an incremental service for someone who has operations in 2G already.
Seems like after a really long wait Indian subscribers will get to see the benefits of 3G services. However, as we speak, operators in some countries are already testing the 4G services. China has decided to move to 4G, bypassing the 3G completely. And there is a looming question that should India move to 4G networks ?
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Very well written Ankit….I would like to say that when the country like China has totally bypassed the 3G phase and moved on to test the 4G then y should we be content with 3G…. A 4G system will be able to provide a comprehensive IP solution where voice, data and streamed multimedia can be given to users on an “Anytime, Anywhere” basis, and at higher data rates than previous generations.I strongly feel that instead of working towards 3G india should make an update towards 4G regarding the costs aswell….if we first move on to 3G and then to 4G would cost many times more as if compared to we moving directly on 4G…..
Dear Anshu,
I agreed with you to implement 4g technology in INDIA but the main problem that we will face is there are not so much sources that people can use 4G even 3G services can be used very less by people. U c that there are very less mobile phones that have 3G services and if they have then they are having a little bit high cost, 4G service enabled phones hav’t launched in India yet.
So i think that first of all we should move to 3G first and then we can know that r we able to use 4G tech or not and people in India are well familier to use that tech or not.
4G? What for? Spend a lot to buy a 3G handset and no 3G and Anshu u r saying to upgrade to 4G. I agree with Amit Kumar
Would you invest in a business in billions even b4 you know who your consumers would be?
Which operator do you think would be willing to take that risk to move to 4g directly instead of testing with 3g. It is not only the cost, but also the risks that needs to be considered. Services provided by European operators are not the same as what is going to be what Airtel and Vodafone would provide in iPhone here in India. You dont get all the features like in European countries. I agree that that there are more mobile users in India, however how many do you think would purchase stuff, gamble in the name of gaming, browse and check mails in their new 3g?
Com on guys. Understand, if we move to 4g spectrum doesnt mean we cannot use 3g handsets. if you take up this, then that means u can get 3g speed using a 4g service, as your phone is enabled with 3g. This is just like using EDGE and GPRS. if your fone has EDGE, then you get the EDGE speed otherwise the GPRS.
Hey folks,
In any business what you should look at is is the target audience, And trust me you cannot target at any particular individual, but a group of individuals. Before thinking of 4g we should see to it as in how many of them will be able to afford and maintain 3g. The cost incurred to set up the entire 4g Technology is 4.8 times more than a 3g technology right now (a ball park figure). And that can be incurred once we implement 3g and they market has that many consumers to use them. the profit margin is definitely high for a 3g technology. The companies will not be able to give unlimited browsing etc for at least 18 months as they cannot afford. I need to go now…please feel free to ask or say anything…Bottom Line is a 3g technology needs to kick off soon. There a lot waiting with the i-phones a lot with their storms and a lot waiting to see whether they should use Reliance Netconnect+ or TATA photon+ or wait for Airtel 3g…Reliance and TATA has it if you know…
friend can u tell me when will airtel launch its 3g service in cites like indore,ahemdabad,nagpur,etc in india. And what is the expected tariff u think.
R3tards…most of us have bought 3g phones, and have been waiting for 3g since 3 years (not to mention how horrible 2g is), now if we move to 4-fuck1ing-G what the fu_C_k should be done with our 3g enabled devices that we never got to use?
F.Y.I:And the last time I checked only HTC and a couple unknown companies offered 4g only phones, i.e no backward compatibility.
WE DIDN’T SPEND $1k and more on our phones, so we could hear our service providers move to 4G and say fu_C_k all you 3G sons-of-b1tch3s in the ass, until you buy a 4G enabled phone.
Vinni you’re such a m0r0n, seriously my 9 year old niece knows that on a 4G network 3G frequency CANNOT BE BROADCASTED. I’ll break it down to an imbecile-like level of words so your puny little brain could understand it.
A 4G phone will not connect to a 3G network, due to a significant variation in their frequencies and on a 4G network 3G freq cannot be sent. THIS IS NOT LIKE GPRS and 2G where they are differed by a 1000MHz its way more than that.
lol… This reminds me of introduction of 5th gear in cars… where and when would we use the 5th gear. lol…
Prices are exp because we don’t have numbers… not to forget we have the maximum subscriber base as compared to any country…
3g 4g , man we need to move up… It’s so good to look inot whats good about a restaraunt before entering it or finding a good palce to eat in a new area… It’s about why are you carrying your Iphone to flaunt it or to use it… As of now all iphone people in our country are flaunters except the ones with gps enbaled…
This news must be rumor. So far to my knowledge Airtel doesn’t have released 3G in any of the cities you mentioned.
I ended up buying a 3G modem from airtel and it doesn’t work at all. What I get is GPRS and FYI, I live in Mumbai, one of those cities where airtel had “experimentally implemented 3G”. I see no 3G with airtel. Photon+ works really well and I do get more that 300KBps(I do mean Byte) download speed for torrents(so you can guess how it is for http or ftp). What I’m waiting for is for Tata to lauch the unlimited plans for photon+.