Bharti Airtel has picked Cuttack and Bhubaneswar as the latest areas in which to trial its 4G LTE network. Both these tier 2 cities in Odisha are showing massive growth as compared to other metropolitan regions in India, a fact which surely played a part in the mobile operator’s decision to try out its next generation service here.
CEO of Airtel for West Bengal and Odisha, Ravindra Singh Negi, told PTI that its subscribers all across India are displaying an inclination to consume data. For many folks, a phone is the first screen opening up the possibilities of the worldwide web to them. This is why many companies are putting a lot of effort into their presence in the mobile space.
Just take for example the case of Flipkart which will dump its website and go app-only by late 2015. Before making such a bold move, the popular Indian online vendor was sure to try its plan of action on fashion retailer Myntra, almost a year after acquiring it. So you can see why Airtel’s Negi thinks the demand for data services will only grow higher.
As it usually does whenever trialing more advanced networks in new areas, Airtel will offer its users a free upgrade from 3G to 4G. Existing subscribers who wish to sign up for faster Internet can simply visit one of the company’s customer care centers and opt for it. Feedback and initial market response will determine how the service will be implemented in the future.
Also see: Airtel spreads its high speed 4G network in Mysore
India’s biggest mobile operator even delivers 4G LTE in metropolitan areas like Pune, Aurangabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Amritsar, Nashik, Bengaluru and Patiala, to name a few. Apart from announcing its latest venture in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, Airtel has also revealed that it will be partnering with Flipkart and Samsung over 4G devices.