Bharti Airtel said the 5G tests were carried out in West Bengal region

Indian telco Bharti Airtel has successfully tested 5G services and data speeds on both the 26 GHz and 3.3 GHz spectrum bands, local newspaper The Economic Times reported.

The 5G tests were carried out in West Bengal region, where the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)’ sWest Bengal service area wing undertook the testing to check minimum rollout obligations.

“DoT conducted testing for 5G services of Bharti Airtel in both 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands in Kharagpur, West Bengal. The data speeds observed during the testing were 566 Mbps for 3.3 GHz and 1 Gbps for 26 GHz bands,” the telecom department said on Twitter.

The report noted that Airtel’s testing of 5G services in West Bengal was carried out a day after rival operator Reliance Jio successfully tested 5G services on both 26 GHz and 3.3 GHz spectrum bands in Gujarat. Reliance Jio Infocomm’s 5G footprint reached 6,258 cities and towns across India, according to the telco’s website. Jio has already deployed over 60,000 5G sites across the 700 MHz and 3.5 GHz bands.

Airtel previously said its 5G service is currently available in more than 3,500 towns and villages across India. The operator’s CEO, Goppal Vittal, said that Bharti Airtel expects its 5G offering to reach 7,000 cities and nearly 100,000 villages across India by March 2024.

In October 2022, Bharti Airtel initially launched 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi.

Airtel is currently using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services. The Indian operator had secured a total of 19,800 megahertz of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands in a previous auction carried out by the Indian government.

Earlier this week, Bharti Airtel announced the launch of what it claims to be India’s first fixed wireless access (FWA) offering.

The telco said that its 5G-based Airtel Xstream AirFiber offering is already available for its customers in Delhi and Mumbai.

Airtel also said that the new service, which will offer internet to consumers in fiber dark areas, will address the last-mile connectivity issue in both rural and urban India where access to fiber infrastructure is a challenge.

The company noted that Xstream AirFiber is a plug-and-play device, with in-built Wi-Fi 6 technology that will offer wide indoor coverage and can simultaneously connect up to 64 devices.