Major Indian operator Bharti Airtel has announced two big achievements for its 5G network this week: one million 5G users and the first airport in India to get access to its 5G network.
Airtel announced on Wednesday that it had crossed the one million unique 5G user mark on its network – less than 30 days after commercial launch of a network that is still being built.
Airtel announced the advent of its 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi in October and claims to be the first operator to commercially launch 5G in the country.
Customers with 5G smartphones can enjoy Airtel 5G Plus on their existing data plans until the rollout is more widespread. There is no need to change the SIM as the existing Airtel 4G SIM is 5G-enabled.
There’s also been an indication of what 5G can do for transport hubs as Airtel followed its user announcement with news that it had launched Airtel 5G Plus services at the new terminal of the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (Bangalore), South India’s busiest airport.
This, Airtel says, is the first airport in India to get access to the 5G network – and it’s likely to have lot of users as it’s still expanding. The new terminal is set to boost the airport’s passenger capacity by an additional 25 million annually, in what is only Phase One of the expansion project.
