Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel plans to add more than 15,000 new sites in fiscal 2018-19 and more than 3000 KMs of optic fiber in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The addition of 15,000 new telecom sites is significant because the largest telecom operator added more than 10,000 sites in the previous financial year.

The strategy of Airtel is to enhance coverage of data network to meet demand of consumers in rural and cities in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The company’s Project Leap investment program will ensure that Airtel is setting up one new telecom site per hour in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states to bolster its quality of services to phone customers.

Airtel in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Launched 4G services on 2300 MHz in Jan 2017
Added 4G services on 1800 MHz in May 2015
Launched VoLTE services in Oct 2017
Airtel network covers 331 census towns out of 354

Airtel said it also plans to deploy pre-5G Massive MIMO technology across major business and residential hubs in the two states. Massive MIMO expands network capacities by 5-7 times on the same spectrum.

Airtel recently deployed the pre-5G Massive MIMO technology solution at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad during the IPL 2018 matches and received very good feedback from customers.

Airtel in fiscal 2017-18 added more than 10,000 new sites in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, extending Airtel’s mobile broadband footprint to over 85 percent of the population in the two states.

The investment in telecom networks will further boost the coverage and data speeds and deliver a superior user experience, said Avneet Singh Puri, chief executive officer – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Bharti Airtel.