Bharti says crossed 1 million customers on 5G amid network build-up

Despite the network’s ongoing construction, telecom provider Bharti Airtel announced on Wednesday that it has reached 1 million consumers on the 5G network within 30 days of its commercial launch.

Before this, Airtel indicated that its 5G services would be rolled out in phases across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur, and Varanasi.

According to Airtel, the business is rolling out the services in these cities gradually as it builds out its network and completes the roll-out.

“We will continue to expand our network to link the entire country,” the top Airtel official concluded. By the middle of this month, all 5G-capable smartphones—aside from Apple’s iPhones—will begin supporting Airtel 5G services, according to Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bharti Airtel, who announced on Tuesday during the company’s earnings call.

By the middle of December, all of Apple’s devices should be able to use the 5G services, according to Mr Vittal, who predicted that the company will deploy the software upgrade in the first week of November.

Airtel is currently offering 5G services at 4G rates, but in the ensuing 6 to 9 months, the company will probably decide how much to charge for the services of the next generation.

IDC, a market research company, reports that 5.1 crores of 5G devices were supplied between 2020 and the first half of 2022 and that they will have a 50% market share by 2023.

But in recent weeks, several 5G smartphones were unable to use 5G services because the network and the phone were incompatible.

By March 2024, the company anticipates covering all Indian towns and significant rural areas, according to Mr Vittal.

As of September 2022, 32.7 crore people were using Airtel’s mobile services in India, according to the company’s Q2 report.

Airtel’s Q2 results statement from earlier this week stated that “4G data consumers rose by 17.8 million years over a year and 5 million quarter over quarter or 64% of the entire mobile customer base.”