Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Thursday claimed that the company rolled out India's first commercial fourth-generation (4G) network, which would make high-speed mobile broadband a reality. "We have now built India's first commercial 4G network that will make high-speed mobile broadband a reality, Bharti Airtel Chief Executive Gopal Vittal told reporters here.
The company said that it began its high-speed data offering in 296 towns ahead of the much-awaited entry of rival Reliance Jio. Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom group by sales, also plans to sell low-cost smartphones at a price as low as Rs4,000.
The company has 4G spectrum in 14 circles while Reliance Jio is the only player to have these airwaves in all the 22 telecom circles. Reliance Jio, part of India's richest person Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries group, is expected to launch its 4G services towards the end of the year.
Airtel also announced a tie-up with Samsung and Flipkart for offering 4G handsets. More such partnerships with other players will be announced in near future.
Vittal, however, said Airtel is talking to various handset makers for the past one year on shaping the device ecosystem for 4G. He, however, refused to comment if the company will come with Airtel branded handsets.
"The company has increased the number of 4G mobile sites three times in the last 60 days to provide better services to customers. Airtel invested Rs1.10 lakh crore in the last five years of which Rs50,000 crore was spent in last two years, primarily on spectrum and infrastructure. It got 4G spectrum in 2010. It first launched 4G services in Kolkata in April 2012 and since than expanded to various cities and towns," Vittal said.
Asked about competition from Reliance Jio and others, Vittal said Airtel has always survived in competition. "We are children of competition in a way and we work in brutal marketplace and that makes us better and sharper."
Reliance Jio, which is now present in all 29 states with a direct physical presence in nearly 18,000 cities and towns, is testing its 4G network before the commercial launch.
Vittal said the company is also talking with some makers if some built-in applications can be incorporated in the devices that will improve the experience for consumers.
"About 1 million 4G-enabled devices have been shipped in the country in the current quarter and that number is likely to rise to 5 million in the December quarter. With the help of the feedback received from the beta launches, we have now built India's first commercial 4G network that will make high speed mobile broadband a reality," he added.
On cannibalisation of 3G due to 4G, Vittal said the data consumption on 4G is much more and they have actually seen a higher average revenue per user on 4G.
A strong growth in data revenues has offset a decline in voice revenues for telecom operators in the country. Airtel too saw 30 per cent growth in data revenue in the last quarter against 11 per cent fall in voice revenue.
Vittal, however, said there are challenges in terms of spectrum and mobile tower sites. He said many of the sites are shut down due to various reasons which lead to call drops.
The company will be investing $2.2 billion (around Rs14,000 crore) in the current fiscal year, primarily on 3G and 4G infrastructure.
The company also announced the launch of a new carrier agnostic mobile app 'Wynk Movies' that offers a library of thousands of movies and other popular videos.
This follows the successful launch of Wynk Music and establishes Airtel as the only mobile operator in India to offer OTT (Over-the-Top) mobile applications that work across carriers, the company said.