Gopal Vittal the Airtel CEO has urged users to take a look for a 5G-enabled smartphone once they purchase a brand new device. In a the company chief had announced that the users would soon be able to check if their location supports Airtel's 5G services with the Airtel Thanks app. Earlier telco had mentioned that it might roll out 5G services within the country by October that to even before Diwali. Its biggest contender, Reliance Jio would soon roll out its fast-internet services in India during the same time.

HIGHLIGHTS
Reliance Jio would soon roll out its fast-internet services in India
Airtel's 5G network was built keeping in customers' smartphones was a NSA
Airtel 5G delivers 'dramatically higher speeds' as compared to the 4G network

In a letter to customers, Vittal wrote that 'We would expect to launch our 5G services in a month. By December, we shall be having coverage within the key metros. After that, we were going to expand quickly to cover up the whole country. We would expect to cover up all of urban India by the end of 2023.'

The letter claimed that Airtel's 5G network was constructed keeping in customers' smartphones, which was a non-standalone (NSA). NSA was widely used in other countries because it was constructed on an existing 4G network. This would remove the trouble of obtaining a brand new SIM card or maybe giving out fresh infrastructure.

He even added that 'This implies that all 5G smartphones in India can work on the Airtel network without any kind of glitch. This may be true even once you would travel abroad with your Airtel 5G-enabled phone. In alternative technologies, it was likely as many as four out of 10 5G phones do not support 5G.'

Vittal had claimed that Airtel 5G would deliver 'dramatically higher speeds' as compared to the 4G network. In a post, the telco had mentioned that 5G is a 100 times quicker than 4G. It has mentioned that low-band 5G would provide speeds between 50 - 250 Mbps, whereas mid-band 5G provides a speed between 100-900 Mbps. The high band was 5G in gigabit. Presently it has been tested as high as 1.8Gbps. In order to provide an idea, India's average fixed broadband in July 2022 was 72.3 Mbps.

Also Read: In 5G Spectrum Auction Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Adani Bid around Rs. 1.45 Lakh Crore