Airtel becomes India’s first telco to start phasing out 3G network

Airtel has announced that it has shut down services on 3G network in Kolkata, making it India's first operator to start phasing out 3G service in the country. The company's mobile broadband services in the telecom circle will now be available on high-speed 4G network. The brand introduced its 3G services in 2011, starting from Bengaluru. Now it is strengthening its 4G network by phasing out 3G technology in the country. It should be pointed out that Airtel's arch rival Jio only offers 4G services, while other telecom operators continue to offer 3G services. 

Airtel said that it has refarmed the 900MHz band spectrum that was being used for 3G services. The company s utilising L900 technology in the 900MHz band, which will complement its 4G services in the 2,300MHz and 1,800MHz bands. The telecom operator says that with L900 technology, its users will have improved 4G connectivity inside builds – homes, offices, and malls. This will also expand the availability of Airtel's 4G network across Kolkata. It's worth mentioning Kolkata was the first telecom circle where the company debuted its 4G services in 2012.

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."

The company has mentioned that it already notified 3G subscribers and requested them to upgrade their phones and SIM cards to continue using its services. Notably, the brand has announced that it will continue to offer 2G services in the telecom circle for its customers using a feature phone.