Airtel expands its Wi-Fi service to 3.9 million households across four states

Telecom major Airtel (Bharti Airtel) has extended its Wi-Fi service to an additional 2.9 million new households in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the company said in its exchange filing on Thursday. The company has also extended its services to an additional 1 million new households in Bihar and Jharkhand, as per the filing. 

Wi-Fi is a wireless networking technology that allows devices such as computers, mobile devices, and other equipment (printers and video cameras) to interface with the Internet. The company has been actively working towards extending its footprint to the telecom users in the country. On July 29 last month, the company announced that it had begun re-farming its existing mid-band spectrum to accommodate the rapidly increasing traffic demand on its 5G network.

As per the exchange filing, the company said that it is reallocating its mid-band spectrum to expand 5G services across the 1800, 2100, and 2300 MHz bands nationwide. The telecom companies have witnessed a growing number of customers transitioning to 5G in the country. Reacting to the move, Ritesh Agarwal, CEO, of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Bharti Airtel, said, "With Airtel Wi-Fi, customers can unlock a wide range of entertainment options including access to 20+ OTTs, 350+ television channels and a reliable high-speed wireless Wi-Fi service at an affordable tariff starting at Rs. 699 a month. 

We hope customers make the most of this and enjoy endless entertainment."Sujay Chakrabarti, CEO, of Bihar and Jharkhand, Bharti Airtel, said, "I am happy to announce that Airtel Wi-Fi has now reached every nook and corner of Bihar and Jharkhand. We hope customers make the most of this and enjoy endless entertainment.

"As per the filing, the customers in Bihar and Jharkhand will be able to enjoy unlimited access to some of the leading English and Hindi OTT platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hotstar, SonyLIV, and top channels like Star Plus, Sony, and Zee TV among others. In June this year, the company participated in the auctioning of 5G services organized by the Ministry of Communication.

In the same month, the company announced a price hike across all its pre-paid and post-paid. At the time of the rate hikes, the company had said that the mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) needs to be upwards of Rs 300 to enable a financially healthy business model for Telcos in India.