Airtel Officially Launches 5G Services In India, Starting With 8 Cities

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Saturday confirmed at the sixth edition of India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 that it is launching its 5G services in the country, starting with select cities.

The telecom major has confirmed that it will roll out 5G in eight cities starting today (October 1).

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Saturday confirmed at the sixth edition of India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 that it is launching its 5G services in the country, starting with select cities. The telecom major has confirmed that it will roll out 5G in eight cities starting today (October 1).

Airtel is launching 5G telecom services in eight cities, which also includes four metro cities today and the roll out of services would cover the entire country by March 2024, said company chairperson Sunil Bharti Mittal at the IMC 2022 in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

“We will spread the coverage of 5G in the entire country. By March 2023, we will have covered several cities and by March 2024, we will have covered entire India with our 5G network,” Sunil Mittal of Bharti Enterprises said.

Mittal also said that the country's oldest private telecom company is launching 5G mobile services in eight major cities and would cover most parts of the country by March next year and the entire country by March 2024.

It should be noted that the first phase of 5G rollout would happen in thirteen cities first. For full 5G coverage in the country, it would be likely done by 2024, as mentioned by telecom operators like Airtel.

Various reports had previously suggested that telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio would be the first ones to roll out 5G services in a few cities in India. Earlier this month, telecom major Bharti Airtel's CEO Gopal Vittal said in a communication to the customers that it expects to launch 5G services within a month. The company CEO had mentioned that Airtel aims to cover key metros by December.

According to an ET report, Ericsson would deploy 5G networks for Airtel in 11 circles, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Samsung in 2 circles, including, Kolkata and Punjab and Nokia in 9 circles, including Mumbai.