Telecom operator Bharti Airtel plans to add more than 13,000 new mobile sites and 4,500 km of optic fiber in Karnataka by March 2019. This will take Airtel’s total installed infrastructure in Karnataka to 39,000 mobile sites and 19,000 km of optic fibre.

Airtel will also deploy pre-5G Massive MIMO technology across major business and residential hubs in the Karnataka state to improve data experience.

Airtel will invest Rs 1000 crore for this expansion in the state as part of its Rs 60,000 crore Project Leap initiative. Of the 13,000 new mobile sites, the company has already installed 8,500 sites and laid 2,500 km of optic fiber. Thirty percent of the new sites are located in Bangalore.

Massive MIMO expands network capacities by 5–7 times on the same spectrum and delivers superfast data speeds despite large number of concurrent users at the same location. Airtel recently deployed the Massive MIMO solution at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru during the IPL 2018 matches.

Airtel 4G already covers 98 percent of the state’s population for offering mobile broadband services. Airtel has 29 million plus customers in Karnataka and its network covers over 39,000 towns and villages.

“We are the only service provider to cover the entire state with our 4G network and the only service provider in Karnataka to offer ubiquitous 4G, 3G and 2G services,” C Surendran, Chief Executive Officer — Karnataka, Bharti Airtel, said.

Airtel network in Karnataka