In line with its plan to phase out 3G technology, Bharti Airtel has announced that it has discontinued 3G services in Kerala. Starting today, Airtel mobile broadband services in Kerala will be available on high speed 4G network and all Airtel 3G customers have been upgraded to 4G.
Airtel will, however, continue to provide 2G services in Kerala to serve the connectivity needs of customers on feature phones.
Airtel said in a statement that all 3G customers were notified and were told to upgrade their handsets/SIMs to be able to avail 4G services. 3G customers who are yet to upgrade their handsets/SIMs will continue to get access to voice services.
In Kerala, Airtel has re-farmed 2100 Mhz band, that was previously being used for 3G, to further strengthen its 4G network.
“The deployment of 4G and re-farming of 3G spectrum is in line with our national strategy of providing seamless connectivity and superior data experience to our customers. 4G LTE service provides a high speed internet access that fits the needs and provides fast Internet speeds for for consumers living in suburban and urban areas with more high speed broadband service options, Airtel 4G LTE affords new competitive high speed broadband choices,” Nagananda. U, COO- Kerala, Bharti Airtel said in a media statement.
In Kerala, Airtel uses a solid spectrum bank across 2300 Mhz (TD LTE), 2100 Mhz (LTE 2100), and 1800 Mhz (FD LTE) to offer 4G services to customers.
This comes after Airtel recently discontinued 3G services in Haryana as well.