Airtel today announced that it has shutdown its 3G network in Kolkata, and only 4G network will be available in the city. It has refarmed the 900 MHz band spectrum being used for 3G to further strengthen its 4G network, which will be rolled out across the country in phased manner. It has deployed state-of-the-art L900 technology in the 900 MHz band to complement its 4G services in the 2300 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands.
In addition to high speed data capacity and wider availability, 900 Mhz spectrum will offer improved 4G availability inside buildings – homes, offices and malls. LTE 900 is available in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Punjab, Mumbai, Karnataka and Delhi NCR.
The company said that it will continue to provide 2G services in Kolkata to serve the connectivity needs of customers on feature phones. It added that all the customers on 3G were notified and requested to upgrade their handsets/SIMs to continue enjoying best-in-class smartphone experience. 3G customers who are yet to upgrade their handsets/SIMs will continue to get access to high quality voice services.
Commenting on the same, Randeep Sekhon, CTO – Bharti Airtel said:
This is in line with our stated strategy of focusing on serving quality customers with best-in-class service experience. Going forward, we plan to re-farm all of our 3G spectrum across India and deploy it for 4G in a phased manner. Also, it complements the smartphone ecosystem, which has now gravitated overwhelmingly towards 4G only devices.