New Delhi: Bharti Airtel said Monday it is well-positioned to usher in the 5G revolution in India after the Sunil Mittal-led telco acquired spectrum worth Rs 43,084 crore in the auction. Airtel acquired 19867.8 MHz spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz frequency bands, bolstering its spectrum holding.
“The acquisition of this vast amount of spectrum strapped on to an already industry best existing pool of spectrum will mean that the company does not need to spend any material sum on the spectrum for many years to come,” Airtel said in a statement.
“In addition, the spectrum buy has enabled Airtel to drastically reduce the payout towards spectrum usage charges (SUC) and eliminate the adverse arbitrage compared to new entrants. Airtel now has the widest mobile broadband footprint across the country, making it well-positioned to usher in the 5G revolution in India,” the statement added and claimed it is set to ‘lead India’s 5G revolution’.
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From demonstrating India’s first 5G experience over a live 4G network in Hyderabad to India’s first rural 5G trial and from cloud gaming experience on 5G to the successful deployment of India’s first captive private network on the trial spectrum, Airtel said it created and nurtured a vibrant ecosystem of partners and startups to support faster adoption of new technologies.
Airtel plans to launch 5G services in every part of the country starting with key cities. “The company is convinced that its higher-quality customer base will adopt 5G devices at a rapid pace in the country,” the company said.
Further, Airtel’s presence in the enterprise segment will allow for a slew of industrial use cases.
Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal said: “This spectrum acquisition at the latest auction has been a part of a deliberate strategy to buy the best spectrum assets at a substantially lower relative cost compared to our competition.”
Vittal added, “This will allow the company to raise the bar on innovation and address the emerging needs of every discerning customer. We are confident that we will be able to deliver the best 5G experience in India in terms of coverage, speeds and latency…5G technology is the revolution that can alter India’s manufacturing, services and several other sectors.”