New Delhi, Feb 27

Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Monday said it has crossed the 10-million (one crore) unique 5G user mark on its network since its first launch in October 2022.

Airtel 5G Plus is available in 70 cities across the country, the company said, adding that it is poised to cover every town and key rural area by the end of March 2024.

“These are early days, but we are thrilled with the response from our customers. Airtel will continue to stay true to its commitment to build a more connected, equitable and sustainable network...we believe we are on the right path to win and deliver a world-class 5G Plus experience to customers,” Randeep Sekhon, Chief Technology Officer, Airtel, said.

The company promises to deliver between 20 to 30 times higher speeds, coupled with better voice experience and faster call connect than 4G, Airtel said, adding that the 5G Plus network will also be kinder to the environment with its special power reduction solution.

In the last one year, Airtel has demonstrated a host of use cases of its fifth generation or 5G, including first private 5G network at the Bosch facility in Bengaluru, to partnering with Mahindra & Mahindra to make its Chakan manufacturing facility 5G enabled, the company said.

As of November 2022, 20,980 5G base stations (BTS) have been installed in 14 States and Union Territories (UTs), the government informed Parliament in December.

According to market trackers, as of February 16, 84,346 BTS have been erected across India. According to the government, telecom service providers (TSPs) are on average installing around 2,500 BTS per week.

Till now, only Airtel and Reliance Jio (Jio) have launched 5G services, while Vodafone-Idea is still on 4G. Since October 2022, Jio has launched its 5G services in 277 cities across 31 States/ UTs.

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