Tim Cook meets Airtel chief Sunil Mittal

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday met Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, one of India`s leading telecommunication companies which was the first to launch 4G in India and is set to offer it countrywide.

It is learnt from sources that almost their meeting at Airtel`s office lasted an hour and top officials of Airtel including Gopal Vittal, managing director and CEO (India & South Asia) were also present.

Kavin Mittal, founder and CEO of Hike messenger, also made a presentation to Cook.

Cook had earlier pitched on the importance of 4G.

"You will see a reliable signal quality after 4G which is critical for India`s progress," he had told NDTV channel.

According to a recent report by global investment advisory CLSA, India`s 3G and 4G subscribers have tripled to 120 million in 24 months but as affordability increases, the market will expand to over 300 million by March 2018.

"We expect total smartphone numbers to rise from 220 million at present to 350 million by March 2018, of which 210 million will be 4G, thus smartphone penetration is unlikely to be a constraint," the report said.

The report said network speeds too are on the rise led by aggressive 3G and 4G rollouts by operators, and availability of relevant content is multiplying, thus mass adoption of 3G and 4G services appears mainly constrained by current data pricing.