Airtel 5G services to be available on 5G enabled Samsung, Xiaomi phones this month

Bharti Airtel’s 5G network will be accessible on all Samsung and Xiaomi smartphones that are 5G ready within this month, a top executive said, adding that the carrier will decide on tariffs within the next few days. The executive indicated that tariffs may not be priced at premium since the number of 5G devices were less than 10% of the smartphone user base.

“In October, all Samsung and Xiaomi (5G) phones will be enabled and more devices will be ready next month... we will be communicating to customers which phones will work on 5G and which won’t on our website which will begin next couple of days,” the executive said, addressing concerns of consumers that have 5G devices but were unable to see 5G network availability. Some of them using the latest iPhone 14 models took to Twitter to point out the issue.

The executive said that Apple would have to issue a software upgrade to enable models lower than the iPhone 14 such that they can use 5G as and when the carrier rolls out its services. “Apple is also doing their final testing, we’re working with them as well,” the executive added.

The availability of the 5G smartphones is critical to 5G network rollouts. With 10% of the India’s existing smartphone user base already having 5G ready devices, experts are predicting a swift uptake of the services once they’re launched. Industry executives say that 5G device adoption is expected to rise to 20% of the total smartphone user base of about 750-800 million.

Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have announced that they will be beginning their services this month, with Airtel launching immediately in Delhi, Mumbai and Varanasi among eight cities.

However, tariffs of the service have not been announced. RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani announced on Saturday that Jio’s 5G services will be most affordable in the world. Mint had reported that Reliance Jio and Airtel were unlikely to price 5G services at premium to existing 4G tariffs.

While the Airtel executive said that the carrier will decide pricing of 5G tariffs within the next few days, it may not help increase the ARPUs.

“We’ve seen in markets like Thailand where 5G tariffs have been at a premium to regular pricing, and the uptake is very low, so we have to be careful since we want more ARPU for better return on capital employed. The ARPU is not going to rise from 5G but from existing tariffs going up,” the Airtel executive said.

The executive said that Airtel would not shy away from taking the lead in raising tariffs but noted that the way the tariffs are structured also needs to reflect global structures where in some markets tiered or staggered tariffs offered different kinds of data and voice usage along with services.

Airtel will cover all of urban India by 2023-end, Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer at the No 2 carrier told customers last month. In August, Vittal had told analysts that Airtel will roll out 5G services in 5000 towns and cities by March 2024. The telco will offer differential services to customers seeking superior or consistent services through network slicing, and offer up to 30 times more speed than 4G.