Airtel discontinues 3G services in Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) and Goa

• Re-farms 3G spectrum to further augment its existing high speed 4G network to improve network quality and serve customers with world-class services
• Airtel will continue to provide 2G services in the region

Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Solapur, Goa, 02 Dec, 2019: In line with its plan to phase out 3G technology, Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) today announced the shutdown of 3G network in Maharashtra(excluding Mumbai) and Goa. Airtel mobile broadband services shall be now available on high speed 4G network.

Airtel will continue to provide 2G services in Maharashtra(excluding Mumbai) and Goa to serve the connectivity needs of customers on feature phones.

In Maharashtra(excluding Mumbai) and Goa, Airtel has re-farmed 2100 Mhz band, that was being used for 3G to further strengthen its 4G network. The company has now deployed state-of-the-art L2100 technology to complement its existing 4G services.

Re-farming of 3G spectrum for 4G to further boost the network capacity and wider availability of Airtel 4G thus significantly improve coverage inside buildings - homes, offices, malls and outdoors especially during intracity/ intercity transit for 4G smartphone customers.

Rohit Marwha, CEO- Maharashtra and Goa, Bharti Airtel said: “The deployment of 4G and re-farming of 3G spectrum is in line with our national strategy of focusing on serving quality customers with best-in-class service experience. Also, it complements the current smartphone ecosystem, which has now gravitated overwhelmingly towards 4G only devices.”

All customers on 3G have been duly notified and requested to upgrade their handsets/SIMs to continue enjoying best-in-class smartphone experience. 3G customers who are yet to upgrade their handsets/SIMs will continue to get access to high quality voice services.

In Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) and Goa, Airtel uses a solid spectrum bank - 2300 Mhz (TD LTE), 2100 Mhz (LTE 2100), and 1800 Mhz (FD LTE) to offer world-class 4G services to customers.

Airtel has been consistently rated as the fastest mobile network in India by multiple globally renowned platforms.