India's Leading Telecom Operator, Airtel has launched 4G services in Mumbai, the 20th city in the country. Currently, the service is being offered to existing 3G customers at no extra charges. Airtel has contiguous 5 MHz of 1800 FD-LTE spectrum in addition to 20 MHz of TD-LTE spectrum in Mumbai.
Speed tests done by us at random locations in Mumbai showed download speeds of around 30-40 Mbps on the Airtel 4G network; this is almost 5x-8x faster than the speed on 3G networks.
Airtel's 4G investments are significantly ahead of Idea/ Vodafone, and Bharti can potentially further consolidate its leadership position in the wireless broadband market. The new credit lines also provide financial support for a potentially aggressive LTE roll-out.
