India's leading telecom service provider Bharati Airtel rolled out its fourth generation LTE service in Pune on Thursday after savouring good response from Kolkata and Bangalore.
"Today, we are excited to launch Maharashtra's first 4G experience for Airtel customers in Pune. The response received by Airtel 4G services in Kolkata and Bengaluru has been compelling - thus reinforcing our long term focus on delivering technologies to fulfill the needs of India's rapidly growing data evolution story," said K Srinivas, President - Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel.
Airtel had acquired BWA license spectrum in Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra in 2010. Pune is the third city to get the 4G service from Airtrel followed by Kolkata and Bangalore. The service is currently provided for post paid customers while pre-paid customers can avail it in the near future.
Along with the launch of the 4G network, the company has announced the availability of Airtel Broadband TV and Games On-Demand for 4G customers. As an introductory offer, the service will be provided free for a limited period, after which it will be charged ₹150 and ₹49 for monthly and weekly users, respectively.
Airtel Broadband TV will allow users get access to nearly 70 channels and Games On-Demand like FIFA and NFS from a host of publishers that include EA, Ubisoft, Square-Enix, PopCap and Alawar.
"With both home and office users opting for 4G services, it is heartening to see early adopters of this technology acknowledge the experience that Airtel 4G delivers - for everything from streaming videos and downloading music, to accessing business applications, email and rich multimedia content. We are optimistic about the traction that 4G will see in months to come and look forward to rolling out our services in other circles soon," Srinivas added.
The 4G technology that includes a dongle for laptops and PCs is priced at ₹4,999. Airtel is offering four plans - Free, Break Free Max, Break Free Ultra and Break Free Ultimate - priced between ₹999 and ₹2,999.
