New Delhi: Bharti Airtel has said it has launched 4G services on mobile in Kolkata with plans for pre-paid customers starting at Rs 42. The company had launched 4G service in Kolkata in 2012 which could be accessed through only dongles.
"With the roll out of Airtel 4G services on mobile, customers can experience an all new electrifying Internet browsing experience anytime, anywhere," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
4G mobile Internet technology provides download speeds of around 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) on the move and it can go up to 1 Gigabits per second (Gbps) at a fixed location.
At this speed, a Bollywood movie of 650 to 750 MB size can be downloaded in seconds.
The company said customers using 4G enabled handsets like Apple iPhone 5s or 5c have to upgrade their existing SIM to a 4G SIM to avail the services.
Airtel said pre-paid users can access 4G for starting with Rs 42. It added a special pack of Rs 999 for postpaid and Rs 995 for prepaid have also been introduced for heavy data users which will offer 10 GB of 4G data.
Post-paid users can further customise their 4G plans by opting for an Airtel myPlan. "While data browsing will be on 4G network, voice calls will be routed on 2G seamlessly with the CSFB (circuit switched fall back) technology," it added.
Airtel had won spectrum for high-speed broadband service - Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) - in four telecom services areas of Kolkata, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka in 2010. It later acquired Qualcomm, which had 4G spectrum New Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala.
