Airtel launches 3G in India, to cover 1,500 cities by March 2012

Bharti Airtel today launched its 3G service in India bringing mobile internet experience to its customers, with rollout plans to cover 1,500-plus cities across the country by March next year.

By March this year, the telecom operator said it would launch 3G service in 40-plus cities in 13 telecom circles, where it had won spectrum (radio waves) for 3G services in the auction held by the government last year.

In the remaining circles where it has no 3G licence, Airtel is currently in discussions with other operators to start service and it's in "active closure stage".

"Airtel 3G footprint will be available across the country (by March 2012)", Airtel's president, mobile services, Atul Bindal told reporters Bangalore.

Excluding the licence fee and service infrastructure, information technology backbone and go-to-market, among others, the company's investment in the 3G roll-out initiative is in the region Rs12,000 crore to Rs13,000 crore, officials said.

Following the 3G service launch, Bindal said Airtel's average revenue per user (ARPU) would improve and outlook on this front is "positive" but declined to talk about specific numbers.

Sounding upbeat on 3G initiative, he said, "There is no reason why mobile internet revolution will not take off and explode exactly the same manner (like the mobile voice)".

On pricing, Airtel said there would be tariff plans for light users of data, where usage and billing would be by hour; flexi-shield plans for heavy users of data, where usage and billing would be capped.

There would be sachet packs of Rs10, Rs60, Rs200, Rs450 and Rs750, and for heavy-users, the entry-level price is Rs650 (up to 1.25 GB) going up to Rs2,000 (up to 14 GB), officials said.

Airtel said: "The airtel internet on 3G gives customers the power of higher speeds to enjoy multimedia services, high speed mobile broadband and internet access with the ability to view videos on your mobile phone, make video calls, watch live TV, access high speed internet and enjoy live streaming...".