Bharti Airtel Goes Further North with Spectrum Deployment; Bolters J&K, Ladakh Network

A week after Bharti Airtel deployed spectrum in Himachal Pradesh, the telco has moved further north and deployed 45 MHz spectrum in the UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Bharti Airtel on a Pan-India Spectrum Deployment Spree

In J&K, the telco has deployed additional 30 MHz spectrum in the 1800/2100 MHz bands. Also, 20 Mhz has been added in the 2300 band and 10 Mhz in 900 Mhz band. Now, Airtel has 40 MHz spectrum in 2.3 GHz band, 25 MHz in 1.8+2.1 GHz Band and 6.2 MHz in 900 MHz band.

This new deployment takes Airtel's total spectrum holdings in the state to 71.2 MHz in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

On the deployment, Manu Sood, Hub CEO – Upper North, Bharti Airtel, said, “with the highest spectrum holding at 71.2 MHz in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Airtel is well positioned to meet the surging demand for high speed data".

The telcos said that it has over 5.59 million customers in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh and its network covers 91.13% population of both the UTs.

Over the past month or so, the telco has carried out spectrum deployments across the country. Starting with states in the south, the telco moved north. The telco had secured more than ₹18,000 crores' worth of spectrum at the March spectrum auction. Airtel has been busy deploying the spectrum ever since. In the south, the telco deployed spectrum in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Also, in the north, the telco deployed spectrum in Haryana, Punjab and HP. With J&K and Ladakh, the telco has covered the whole North India, except Uttarakhand.

The telco has already stated that it has a 5G-ready network. The network capacity upgrades suggest that a rollout is imminent.