Airtel Offers 8 Mbps Broadband Connection in India

Airtel has announched in a press release on thier website that they are first broadband service provider in India to offer 8 Mbps broadband experience. They have mentioned it in a website press release on 17th November 2007.

Airtel Offers Shockingly Fast Broadband in India

Airtel is the first service provider in India to offer 8 Mbps broadband experience and joins select operators in the world to provide such high speeds. Airtel broadband customers can browse multiple windows at the same time- downloading heavy files, view streaming video, enjoy online gaming, chat, email etc. With 8 Mbps speeds, Airtel network is IPTV ready. For the first time in India, Airtel brings 8mbps broadband internet access for its customers. This is a significant landmark in the industry as it brings to Indian consumers speeds, that will revolutionize their experience and unleash the true power of the internet. Currently, the speeds on offer range from 256 Kbps to 4 Mbps.

Launching the service, Mr. Atul Bindal, President, Broadband & Telephone Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd, said, "At Airtel, our endeavour is to enhance customer experience significantly and provide. ?More Value?. With 8 Mbps, we now offer our customers a truly world-class broadband experience, wherein our customers would be able to download heavy files, view streaming video, enjoy in online gaming, etc. Further, they can browse on multiple windows at the same time without compromising the performance of any application. This service will ensure that our customers have a truly world-class browsing experience. With 8 Mbps speed, our network will also be IPTV ready."

For instance, Airtel customers will no longer have to wait for a video to get buffered while watching streaming videos. They would be able to download a 5 MB music file in 5 seconds flat as compared to 160 seconds on a 256 kbps connection.

Airtel?s 8 Mbps broadband service will initially be available in Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Delhi and the NCR, with a subsequent rollout in Mumbai and Hyderabad, in a few weeks.

Airtel has invested in the back end infrastructure to deliver these speeds. We already have a Carrier Ethernet Network operational in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. In the next phase Mumbai too would be upgraded to a CEN. CEN allows not only provisioning of high speed plans to broadband customers but also delivery of triple play services In the other cities the SDH network has been upgraded to deliver 4 & 8 mbps speeds. This investment is a part of Airtel?s ongoing commitment to customer in order to ensure the best consumer broadband experience at the front end. This allows the company to introduce new technologies to offer innovative services and faster speeds for Internet access.

Airtel is already working on multiple fronts to gives its customers a complete internet experience, from innovative tariffs, consumer centric features to content. On the content front Airtel has already tied up with several content providers such as India Games and Soundbuzz to provide unlimited gaming, music downloads, education and communication services. Airtel content offering revolves around the themes of "learn, work and play".

Further Airtel offers features like NetXpert, India?s first automated broadband self-care technology and PC Secure, which offers features like anti-virus and parental control. On the tariff front it has specific plans for each consumer segment from duration based plans for beginners to unlimited plans for the evolved user.

About Bharti Airtel Limited:

Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, is India’s leading integrated telecom services provider with an aggregate of 50 million customers. Bharti Airtel has been rated among the best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list 2007.