Airtel 4G network now covers 15863 towns and villages across Assam

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s has said that its 4G network now covers over 15863 towns and villages in Assam, empowering customers with best-in-class high speed mobile broadband services.

Airtel recently announced a massive network expansion drive to further scale up its high speed data services across the region.

In addition, as part of its acquisition of Telenor’s India operations, Airtel has added 6 MHz of spectrum in 1800 MHz band to its portfolio in Assam. This will further boost 4G network capacity in the state, complement the rollout of new sites and fiber and enhance customer experience in the form of even better indoor and outdoor coverage.

Raveendra Desai, CEO, Assam and North East, Bharti Airtel said, “To bring more and more customers onto the digital highway, we are committed to further expanding our 4G services across Assam. The availability of budget friendly smartphones is driving a massive uptake of 4G data and Airtel aims to be the 4G network of choice of customers in Assam with its superior data experience. Airtel’s affordable plans and packs offer access to exciting digital services like music, movies, LIVE TV on mobile and we invite customers to experience our 4G network.”

All Airtel 4G customers enjoy free access to Airtel TV that offers over 10,000 movies and TV shows plus 375 LIVE TV channels on the go. Airtel has also been consistently rated as the fastest network in India by global speed measurement leader - Ookla.

Airtel offers the widest bouquet of mobile services (4G/3G/2G) in Assam backed by a wide distribution channel of over 39 thousand retail outlets that serves customers even in deep rural pockets. Airtel’s network now covers 30,000 towns and villages representing approximately 94% of the state’s population.

Special focus on Assam and North East

Airtel was the first operator to launch 3G and 4G services in the region. Airtel’s network umbrella in the region covers all key urban, semi urban and rural areas including highways, tourist destinations and trade centers. It has the widest network footprint with network coverage even in remote locations like Lumla (Arunachal Pradesh), Tuipang (Mizoram), Dawki (Meghalaya) and Longwa (Nagaland).

As part of its network transformation program - Project Leap, Airtel plans to roll out 6000 new mobile sites across the region in FY 2018-19 with the aim of stepping up network capacity and taking services deeper into rural and unconnected areas. This rollout will effectively translate to deployment of 16 new Airtel mobile sites per day across the region.

With this planned rollout, the number of Airtel’s mobile sites across Assam and North East will go up by 31% to 25,000 and considerably enhance the network experience for customers. Airtel also plans to deploy 3000 km of fresh optic fiber in the region to take its fiber footprint to 16000 km. The addition of fresh fiber capacity will support the growth of high speed data services in the region.

In December 2017, Airtel had signed an agreement with the Department of Telecom (Govt. of India) and Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for provision of mobile services in identified uncovered villages and national highways in the North Eastern States of Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. Under the agreement, Airtel will set up over 2000 mobile towers/sites in unconnected pockets of the region and deliver telecom connectivity to citizens in over 2100 villages over 18 months.