Airtel begins 4G trials in Mumbai; will gather customer feedback and test quality of service

Close on the heels of starting its 4G trials in Chennai , Airtel has also added Mumbai to the list and has started testing its 4G networks in the city from Saturday. The 4G service can be used by existing owners of 4G handsets and as a complimentary offer, Airtel will be offering 4G services at the same data charges as its 3G services. The main idea behind the trials is to gather customer feedback and try and improve the quality of the service. “While launching Platinum 3G we significantly augmented our network and now have made further investments in building a robust 4G network here. We want our existing customers to be the first ones to enjoy the Airtel 4G experience and are offering them a free upgrade to Airtel 4G at the same price as 3G,” said Ashok Ganapathy, Hub CEO - Mumbai. Maharashtra, Goa & Gujarat at Bharti Airtel. You will need to get a 4G SIM card, which can be procured from any of the Airtel relationship centres. Airtel has also announced a go-to-market partnership with Samsung to proliferate 4G devices. As part of this, Samsung India and Airtel have decided to promote each others’ 4G offerings at their respective outlets. Samsung will be offering bundled Airtel 4G SIMs along with its 4G enabled handsets such as the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A5. Flipkart will also be offering double the data benefits for customers buying selected 4G handsets from its site from companies such as Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo, Asus and Huawei, which will also come bundled with Airtel 4G SIM. Currently, Bharti Airtel offers 4G services in 19 cities across the country, including Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune, Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. Airtel has also extended its 4G network in Maharashtra’s Virar, Nalaspora and Vasai. It had, in January, announced that it plans to launch 4G services in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, North East and Punjab by December 2015, Karnataka by February 2016 and Rajasthan by April 2016. Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal in March said that the company has plans to double its 4G network by installing about 20,000 more sites in addition to 20,000 sites it already has for 4G service. Anyone of you using the Airtel 4G service in Mumbai? Do let us know your experience in the comments section below.