3G
On 18 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction was completed and Airtel paid the Government of India inr 123000000000 for spectrum in 13 telecom circles of India: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, and Jammu & Kashmir.[10] Airtel also operates 3G services in Maharashtra & Goa, Kolkata, Gujarat and Punjab circles through an agreement with Vodafone. This gives Airtel a 3G presence in all 22 out of 22 circles in India. Airtel is fined by DoT 3.50 billion for not stopping offering 3G Services through Roaming Pacts outside its Licensed Zones in Seven Circles.
On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it had given contracts to Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country. These vendors would plan, design, deploy and maintain 3G–HSPA (third-generation, high-speed packet access) networks in 13 telecom circles where the company had won 3G licences. While Airtel awarded network contracts for seven 3G circles to Ericsson India, NSN would manage networks in three circles. Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei Technologies was introduced as the third partner for three circles.[11]
Airtel launched 3G services in Bangalore on 24 January 2011.[12] On 27 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G in Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. On 27 July 2011, 3G services were launched in Kerala's 3 largest cities – Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.[13]
Airtel 3G services are available in 200 cities through its network and in 500 cities through intra-circle roaming arrangements with other operators. Airtel had about 5.4 million 3G customers of which 4 million are 3G data customers as of September 2012. Airtel has 3G licence in all 22 circles.[14]
In October 2017, Bharti Airtel announced its acquisition of Tata Docomo having roughly 40 million subscribers.[15]
In June 2019, Airtel closed their 3G network in Kolkata. In Kolkata users can only access 4G and 2G networks. As of April 2025, Airtel does not provide a 3G network and only 5G, 4G LTE, and 2G services are offered.[16]
4G
On 19 May 2010, the broadband wireless access (BWA) or 4G spectrum auction in India ended. Airtel paid inr 33143600000 for spectrum in 4 circles: Maharashtra and Goa, Karnataka, Punjab and Kolkata.[17] The company was allocated 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in 2.3 GHz frequency band. Airtel's TD-LTE network is built and operated by ZTE in Kolkata and Punjab, Huawei in Karnataka, and Nokia Siemens Networks in Maharashtra and Goa.[18] On 10 April 2012, Airtel launched 4G services through dongles and modems using TD-LTE technology in Kolkata, becoming the first company in India to offer 4G services. The Kolkata launch was followed by launches in Bangalore (7 May 2012),[19] Pune
VoLTE
On 3 November 2016, The Economic Times reported that Airtel had awarded a ₹4.02 billion (US$60 million) contract to Nokia to implement Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology on the operator's network nationwide. Airtel had previously awarded a smaller contract to Nokia for trial of VoLTE technology in select circles in early 2016. Airtel subscribers would be able to place VoLTE calls in areas covered by LTE. If LTE was not available in the area, the call will fall back to 3G or 2G.[30]
5G
Airtel operates a 5G network running in NSA mode and runs on bands n78 and n258.
Jan 2021 - Demonstrated live 5G network at Hyderabad, India.[31]
Feb 2021 - Announced partnership with Qualcomm to develop Open-RAN based 5G network.[32]
July 2021 - Airtel and Intel announce collaboration to accelerate 5G in India.[33]
August 2022 - Airtel signed agreement deal with Nokia, Samsung & Ericsson for 5G services.[34]
October 2022 - On 1 October 2022, Bharti Airtel launched 5G services in 8 cities in India.[35]
Spectrum frequency holding summary
Airtel India owns spectrum in 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 3500 MHz and 26 GHz bands across the country.[36]
Project Leap
On 30 November 2015, Airtel announced the launch of a network transformation programme called Project Leap. Under the programme, the company will invest ₹60,000 crores over the next 3 years to upgrade its network across India.[37] Airtel will deploy over 160,000 base stations nationwide, and also expand its mobile broadband coverage to over 500,000 villages. Under Project Leap, Airtel will introduce several technologies such as small cells, carrier aggregation solutions, Wi-Fi hotspots, and several different spectrum bands to improve network coverage in indoor areas. The company will also deploy more than 5,50,000 km of domestic and international fibre, and upgrade its legacy networks and base stations over the three-year period.
Airtel Broadband will also benefit from Project Leap. The ISP's maximum offered speed will rise from 16 Mbit/s in 2016 to 50 Mbit/s when after the programme is implemented.[38]
On 14 June 2016, Airtel launched the Open Network initiative under Project Leap. The Open Network service allows users to view Airtel's mobile network coverage and signal strength across India, in addition to network site deployment status. This was first launched on a trial basis in December 2015, before its official launch in June 2016.[39]
