Airtel 5G News & Discussions

[kanagadeepan]

Like 4G this time too Airtel didn't prepare well before launching. They should have hired a bunch of people to roll-out.

@hike bro, yes. Airtel just was totally unprepared wrt Jio's 4G Tsunami. Airtel had money for 4G expansion before Jio launch (though most was diverted to African and other small Asian market - mostly in vain). Instead they prefered to launch 4G in just two streets each of Kolkata and Bangalore. They didn't expect Jio to launch Pan India on Day 1, especially as Jio didn't have sub GHz spectrum PAN India at that time. They have just under-estimated the capacity of their rival, which was the most worst thing they did.

But now wrt 5G, the situation is totally different. They are not at all under-estimating Jio, especially when Jio bid aggressively in 5G auction and got n28 band Pan India. But sadly, Airtel lacks Vitamin M now to launch 5G with equal aggressiveness of Jio (comparing 3G and initial 4G days). So even now they are launching just 2 towers per city. They are just blabbering, "NSA is best, NSA is carbon effective [who among their customers care about that ??] , cost effective, most phones compatible, blah blah blah", even though they have to eventually move to 5G SA at the end. But still, I have respect for Airtel, as they are at least fighting back (not crying in the corner like VoId) and giving the much needed competition to Jio.

They should have focussed on 4G expansion in non priority circles(Priority circles for Vi) of theirs instead of 5G launch. It would have helped them to get revenue. The sites difference is huge between these circles. Backhaul improvement is also one important thing for them. They are the ones still uncapped in terms of speeds. At my home site and work site, they consistently deliver 100-200Mbps speeds on 3-40C.

Actually, their strategy is to invest less and gain more in those VoId dominant circles. Improving 4G coverage in those circles by launching new towers in rural areas will be costly and they will gain less number of rural 4G subscribers at the max. Instead, by launching 5G in just urban areas of their own existing Indus towers with 1Gbps MW Back-haul, they are trying to grab the high paying customers of VoId there (with high end 5G phones), even though Airtel will be mostly second SIM for those high paying customers, due to relatively bad rural coverage (Jio being Primary SIM).

By doing this, they are striking two birds with one stone. Bird One - Low investment, Bird Two - Grabbing High paying customers of VoId, who has to pay minimum Rs155 per month to Airtel. Yes, they know what they are doing.

actually neither airtel nor jio found pure 5g use case to monetize investment made

secondly airtel and jio strongly testing water for FWA

T mobile USA and verizon are grabbing more FWA -rural broadband in 2023,

so i expect , also as per t& C of NIA, Dot may give 3-6 months extension for network rollout of mmwave band 258 to aggressively rollout by airtel and may equals site count if not exceeding jios mmwave sites during dec2023-may2024.

bcoz airtel knows that if they didnt rush to grab real paying, FWA user, its difficult to convert them, as MNP donsent make any sense for FWA and particularly rural subscriber. so not rushing for count as of today is perfect strategy.

Yeah, FWA is the next battleground. FWA helps to bring BB to rural areas cost effectively. Even Airtel's 1Gbps MW back-haul is enough for that, considering the demand there. Only time will tell, if they can win using that strategy.

 

[TheAndroidFreak]

actually neither airtel nor jio found pure 5g use case to monetize investment made

secondly airtel and jio strongly testing water for FWA

T mobile USA and verizon are grabbing more FWA -rural broadband in 2023,

so i expect , also as per t& C of NIA, Dot may give 3-6 months extension for network rollout of mmwave band 258 to aggressively rollout by airtel and may equals site count if not exceeding jios mmwave sites during dec2023-may2024.

bcoz airtel knows that if they didnt rush to grab real paying, FWA user, its difficult to convert them, as MNP donsent make any sense for FWA and particularly rural subscriber. so not rushing for count as of today is perfect strategy.

People from rural areas won't pay for FWA.

 

[TheAndroidFreak]

But now wrt 5G, the situation is totally different. They are not at all under-estimating Jio, especially when Jio bid aggressively in 5G auction and got n28 band Pan India

They are not even in competition with respect to 4G/5G. Trust me on this. They are non existent beyond city limits in many circles where as Jio is present every where.

 

[RummaanKhan]

3-8-1_N78 on 10G site in Chennai.

 

[RummaanKhan]

This is probably highest speed anyone got on Airtel 5G in India on commercial network

 

[TheAndroidFreak]

Actually, their strategy is to invest less and gain more in those VoId dominant circles. Improving 4G coverage in those circles by launching new towers in rural areas will be costly and they will gain less number of rural 4G subscribers at the max. Instead, by launching 5G in just urban areas of their own existing Indus towers with 1Gbps MW Back-haul, they are trying to grab the high paying customers of VoId there (with high end 5G phones), even though Airtel will be mostly second SIM for those high paying customers, due to relatively bad rural coverage (Jio being Primary SIM).

By doing this, they are striking two birds with one stone. Bird One - Low investment, Bird Two - Grabbing High paying customers of VoId, who has to pay minimum Rs155 per month to Airtel. Yes, they know what they are doing.

This won't be successful in long term. First of all with 1Gbps MW backhaul, speeds are not even crossing 300-400Mbps(My experience, I have used high end X70 modems to test this, as well as iPhone 14 Pro Max). Speeds are worst and that indirectly slowing down 4G speeds. If you use just 4G, speeds are more than 100Mbps if you use good CA handset device. So people will prefer 4G only.



Whatever you are saying, worked for them till now because Vi is weak. But won't work here onwards. They have lot of work to do on ground. But Jio has lead in 5G segment and they are much ahead. Airtel has to match tariffs with Jio in order to sustain in 5G race. Because Airtel SA 5G is still 4 years away. If BSNL starts their 4G on 2100/900Mhz(even 900Mhz makes sense) simultaneously within one and half year with cheap tariffs just like Jio at their launch, Airtel won't be secondary choice for people. People are still pissed off at tariff hikes by Airtel. They are with Airtel just because 3rd and 4th player is not strong at all.





Low investment and high paying customers doesn't go hand in hand in Telecom sector. Go anywhere in the world. You see companies investing heavily. Go and see TMobile. Invested heavily and kept charges lower than competition. Now leading the pack with SA network in just three years. Enabled 3CA on NR which double charging Verizon haven't done yet. Yes, Verizon will come back this year but it's too late for them now. Airtel same condition. Naam bade darshan chote. 300GB is not enough. So they know their backhaul is not good one.

 

[RummaanKhan]

This won't be successful in long term. First of all with 1Gbps MW backhaul, speeds are not even crossing 300-400Mbps(My experience, I have used high end X70 modems to test this, as well as iPhone 14 Pro Max). Speeds are worst and that indirectly slowing down 4G speeds. If you use just 4G, speeds are more than 100Mbps if you use good CA handset device. So people will prefer 4G only.

MW backhaul now is 400Mbps mostly not 1Gbps. Fiber is only 1Gbps and also E Band which is rare deployed in select cities only

 

[TheAndroidFreak]

MW backhaul now is 400Mbps mostly not 1Gbps. Fiber is only 1Gbps and also E Band which is rare deployed in select cities only

Yes. Sites are still 1Gbps and 400Mbps mostly in Mumbai.

 

[Kuttusan]

Airtel Powers 5G Access To The Kochi Water Metro Route

Airtel is the first service provider to democratize access to blazing fast 5G speeds to customers travelling on India’s first water metro service.

www.freepressjournal.in

 

[OnlyTech]

As per Airtel, its 5G Plus services are now available in more than 3500 cities and towns across India.

Airtel 5G Plus services now available across Kochi water metro route