Bharti Airtel has introduced a new fiber technology in its core network that can help deliver speeds of up to 100 Mbps on its fixed broadband lines.
It is the biggest private sector player in wired internet in India.
The new technology, called Vectorization, will make its impact felt in 87 cities where Airtel’s broadband is there.
“The offering is LIVE in Chennai starting today and will be rolled out across the company’s’s national broadband network in the coming weeks,” the company said.
The technology will work over existing copper-based DSL lines. There will be no new wiring, drilling etc. required at an existing customer’s premises.
However, users will have to buy a new V-fiber modem instead of the ADSL 2.0 modem that they currently use.
Existing Airtel broadband customers can upgrade to ‘V-Fiber’ speeds with their current plan and enjoy superfast data speeds at no extra monthly cost. If they are not happy with the service within one month, the company will refund the modem charges and the amount will be adjusted in the next bill cycle. New customers will get Unlimited three months trial offer. Existing and new customers can register at www.airtel.in/vfiber.
Most DSL connections in India have a bandwidth of around 2 Mbps. Some operators, including MTNL, BSNL and Airtel, also offer up to 8 Mbps using special technology. However, these speeds require the premises to be close to the ‘telephone exchange’, and do not work at distances of 2 km or above.
“With ‘V-Fiber’, Airtel has brought fiber closer to homes by deploying additional capacity up to colonies and neighbourhoods and has also upgraded its local exchanges with equipment to handle fiber speeds,” the company said.
It said it is the first operator in India to deploy Vectorization.
‘V-Fiber’ will transform the home broadband for the company’s customers with consistently superfast data speeds and enable HD video streaming, heavy file downloads and uploads in a multi-device environment (over Wi-Fi), the telco said.
The move has come in the context of increasing competition in the telcom field, with the rollout of Reliance Jio’s 4G and fiber services. Jio has a target of rolling out fiber services in 100 top cities in the country. At present, Bharti’s landline services is also present in about that many cities.
Ajai Puri, Director – Operations, Bharti Airtel said, “India is witnessing an explosive growth in data usage and a lot of in-home data consumption is happening over fixed broadband that offers consistent speeds. We have always innovated ahead of the curve and offered its customers best-in-class broadband technology and experience. With ‘V-Fiber’ and our national optic fiber backbone, we are all set to offer a future ready network for tomorrow’s digitally connected homes. This solution, besides reducing our carbon footprint, offers a very quick and convenient upgrade to the customer. We are also delighted to launch our innovative myHome Rewards and unlimited free voice calling facility for our customers.”
Airtel also announced the launch of unlimited free voice calling for all broadband customers. The facility is now available across broadband plans and customers can make unlimited free voice calls to any network across the country at no extra cost.
Users can also get an free additional data benefit of 5GB per month for every other service connection – postpaid mobile or digital TV (DTH) – within the home/family.
Customers can avail theoffer for their existing as well as new Airtel postpaid mobile and digital TV connections. If an Airtel broadband home has two postpaid mobiles and one digital TV connection then 15 GB free additional data will be added to their broadband account every month