Indian telco Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of its 5G-based fixed wireless access (FWA) service, dubbed ‘Airtel Xstream AirFiber’ in Delhi and Mumbai. The operator notes that the platform will be used to provide last-mile connectivity in areas where fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) is not yet available and in urban and rural locations where the deployment of fibre infrastructure faces additional challenges. The service provides download speeds of up to 100Mbps and is available from INR799 (USD9.7) per month. Airtel also notes that the Xstream AirFiber devices will be manufactured in India under the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Airtel’s Director of Consumer Business, Shashwat Sharma was quoted as saying of the new service: ‘India has seen the rapid growth of home broadband but there still remain areas with no access to high speed internet at home due to the physical challenges of laying fibre in a country the size of India. While FTTH will always define the best experience of Wi-Fi at home, AirFiber helps bridge the experience gap for everyone else. Today, we are delighted to launch Xstream AirFiber for consumers in Delhi and Mumbai with a pan-India rollout planned soon.’