airtel launches 3G services in Chennai, Coimbatore

Bharti airtel is the third private operator after Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications to launch 3G services in the country. State-run BSNL and MTNL are also offering 3G services.

"Today, as we introduce the airtel 3G promise in Chennai and Coimbatore –- we are delighted to bring the power of the mobile internet deeper south," Bharti airtel President Mobile Services Atul Bindal said in a statement.

airtel had bagged 3G spectrum in 13 out of the 22 telecom circles through an auction held last year for Rs 12,295 crore.

airtel would offer services like video call, live streaming of video, high speed internet, mobile TV entertainment and go video on social networking in Chennai and Coimbatore through 3G technology.

airtel users can avail the services through existing sim cards. For laptop users airtel has also come up with 3G dongles.

The company is offering different plans to woo the customers including Pay as you go, Sachet Plans, Standard Plans starting from Rs 101 for pre-paid and Rs 100 for postpaid and FlexiShield Plan, which is a combination of free data usage and a low inbuilt VBC rate.

airtel also introduces an initiative to help customers manage their 3G data usage and prevent 'bill shock' – by offering proactive, personalised and timely data usage alerts to its customers. The company has also introduced a first of its kind 'internet usage calculator' that will help customers monitor and analyse their current internet data usage and choose an airtel 3G plan accordingly.

Earlier, this week the company had launched its 3G services in Karnataka and had said that it plans to launch services across the other 13 circles by March this year.

Bharti airtel, which had close to 150 million mobile customers in India at the end of December 2010, has given contracts to leading global vendors -- Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country.