Airtel to further bolster its high speed network footprint in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

To roll-out 15,000 new mobile sites, including large scale deployment of pre-5G Massive MIMO technology, during FY 18 -19

Will add 3000 KMs of fresh optic fiber to further expand its fiber footprint

• Rollout will translate to one new site being added every hour to Airtel’s future-ready network in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
• Airtel 4G already covers over 85% of the population across two states

Hyderabad, June 20th 2018. Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s largest telecommunications service provider, today announced it massive network roll-out plans for FY 2018-19 to further expand its high speed mobile data footprint in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

As a part of its network expansion program – Project LEAP, Airtel announced its plans to add more than 15000 new sites in FY 2018-19, along with an addition of more than 3000 KMs of optic fiber, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. While stepping up the data capacities and taking services deeper into rural and unconnected areas, the massive roll-out would mean addition of 1 new site per hour to Airtel’s future-ready network in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Airtel also plans to deploy pre-5G Massive MIMO technology across major business and residential hubs in the two states to step up high speed data experience for customers. Massive MIMO expands network capacities by 5-7 times on the same spectrum and delivers superfast data speeds despite large number of concurrent users at the same location. Airtel had recently deployed the solution at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad during the IPL 2018 matches and received very good feedback from customers.

The expansion plan for FY 2018-19 follows a fruitful FY 2017-18 which saw more than 10000 new sites being deployed in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, extending Airtel’s mobile broadband footprint to over 85% of the population in the two states.

Avneet Singh Puri, Chief Executive Officer – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Bharti Airtel Ltd, said “As India’s leading mobile network, we are committed to providing a world-class experience to our customers and are committed significant investments this year to expand our high speed data footprint across the two geographies. This will further boost the coverage and data speeds and deliver a superior user experience. Leveraging the latest capabilities of our spectrum portfolio, Airtel will benefit from an end-to-end solution that can deliver a truly on-demand experience for its customers”.

Network highlights of Airtel Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

• 4G services on 2300 MHz launched in Jan 2017
• 4G services on 1800 MHz added in May 2015
• VoLTE services launched in Oct 2017
• Towns and villages covered by Airtel network - 331 census towns out of 354 covered.

About Bharti Airtel Limited:

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 16 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed home broadband, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G, 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 413 million customers across its operations at the end of March 2018. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com

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