All Android 5G Smartphones To Support Airtel 5G From Mid-Nov: Airtel CEO

At the earnings call for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, Gopal Vittal, CEO of Bharti Airtel said all 5G-enabled smartphones except iPhones will support Airtel’s 5G network come the middle of November.

Vittal added that Apple will be releasing a software update shortly to include 5G support.

“All Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo and realme devices are now ready for our network. Samsung and OnePlus will be fully ready in the next couple of weeks. Apple soon thereafter – it looks like Apple will be ready by mid-November to early December,” said Vittal during the telco’s earnings call.

Going into the details of the same, Vittal noted that out of the 27 Samsung smartphone models that support 5G, 16 are ready and enabled. The rest of Samsung’s smartphones will be ready by November 10-12. 

“Apple has 13 models. They will have [software update] release around the first week of November and by mid-December, they should all be ready,” Vittal added.

The Airtel CEO added that all 17 models of OnePlus will support Airtel 5G Plus, along with all 34 models each of Vivo and realme. Lastly, Vittal noted that all of Xiaomi’s 33 5G-ready smartphones and all of OPPO’s 14 models will work on Airtel’s 5G.

Speaking on the pricing of 5G, Vittal said Airtel will continue to provide 5G at 4G rates for the first few months but will decide the same in the next six to nine months.

Vittal said that alternative technologies would not work on existing devices or might result in an inferior experience. To contextualise this statement, it should be noted that Airtel is launching its 5G with non-standalone (NSA) technology. This allows the telco to use existing infrastructure to deliver a 5G experience, using fewer resources. “With our anchor band riding on the underlying 4G layer, our 5G band covers an additional 100 meters,” added Vittal.

Interestingly, Airtel’s biggest competitor and market leader Reliance Jio is launching its 5G network in SA mode.

Vittal also shed light on Airtel’s 5G rollout plans. “We’ve now commenced our Airtel 5G Plus launch starting with eight cities. By March 2024, we expect to cover all towns of urban India, as well as key rural areas,” said Vittal. The CEO noted that as more and more users move from 4G to 5G, the telco would dedicate more spectrum to support the new users ‘at the flick of a switch’.

Vittal added that while the next-gen network has limited use cases outside of high-speed broadband, Airtel is working with companies to develop new use cases. “We are working across a large number of companies, including startups, to test out use cases,” Vittal added.

The telco recorded an 89% rise in net income year-on-year (YoY) to INR 2,145 Cr in Q2FY23, with its revenue rising 22.3% YoY to reach INR 24,333 Cr. Airtel’s average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to INR 190, the highest in the telecom sector.