Bharti Airtel launches 4G in Kolkata

Kolkata: Bharti Airtel has launched Broadband Wireless Access or BWA services in Kolkata, becoming the first company to offer 4G services in India. The services will also be available in Pune, Chandigarh and Bangalore soon.

The services on offer include those which can be intercepted by and made available in the required format to the security agencies.

Airtel had announced last week that it has roped in Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE to plan, design, supply and deploy its BWA network in Kolkata.

Bharti Airtel has launched BWA services in Kolkata, becoming the first company to offer 4G services in India.

The 4G service has the potential to provide a download speeds of around 100 Megabits per second when a user is on the move, and can go up to 1 Gigabits per second at a fixed location.

The telecom major has appointed Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for building and operating network in the Maharashtra circle using TD-LTE - one of the 4G technologies.

The company had won BWA spectrum in 2010 for four telecom circles - Kolkata, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka and had paid Rs 3,314.36 crore.

The company was allocated 20 Mhz of BWA spectrum in 2.3 Ghz frequency band which is considered suitable for transmitting signals for operating 4G services.

(With additional information from PTI)

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)