\"<p>A
A man walks across a board showing the logo of Airtel at the ongoing India Mobile Congress 2022, at Pragati Maidan, in New Delhi, India, October 3, 2022. REUTERS\/Anushree Fadnavis<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>New Delhi: Bharti Airtel<\/a> will move to the standalone (SA) mode of 5G<\/a> in a couple of years as demand evolves, but still won’t need the 700 MHz band and will not buy it even in the next sale, a senior company executive said. As per the executive, Airtel has enough mid-band spectrum and it will be refarmed to roll out SA mode 5G when the requirement arises.

“We have the capability to roll out SA mode even now but there is no requirement as not enough uptake has taken place so far. Even the existing capacity will not be utilised fully. But we ultimately plan to shift to SA mode as the demand increases,” said the executive, who didn’t want to be named.

Asked about his views on 700 MHz spectrum and whether Airtel will buy the band in future auctions, he said the company does not intend to buy the band in future also for rolling out SA mode and rather utilise its spectrum in 850 MHz and 900 Mhz bands, which offer the same characteristics.

Currently, around 15 MHz spectrum in 700 MHz is lying with the
Department of Telecommunications<\/a> (DoT). But if there are no takers, the government may allocate some quantum to state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and utilise the remaining for other public works. In the recently concluded auction, Reliance Jio<\/a> had bought 10 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum in each circle for 39,270 crore.

\"Airtel<\/a><\/figure>

Airtel says ‘5G Plus’ network live in eight cities; existing data plans will work on 5G phones<\/a><\/h2>

Airtel’s update of its 5G network comes a day after rival Reliance Jio launched its ‘True 5G’ beta service in four cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Varanasi. The latter aims to deliver 5G to every town, every taluka, and every tehsil by December 2023.<\/p><\/div>

\"&lt;p&gt;A
A man walks across a board showing the logo of Airtel at the ongoing India Mobile Congress 2022, at Pragati Maidan, in New Delhi, India, October 3, 2022. REUTERS\/Anushree Fadnavis<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>New Delhi: Bharti Airtel<\/a> will move to the standalone (SA) mode of 5G<\/a> in a couple of years as demand evolves, but still won’t need the 700 MHz band and will not buy it even in the next sale, a senior company executive said. As per the executive, Airtel has enough mid-band spectrum and it will be refarmed to roll out SA mode 5G when the requirement arises.

“We have the capability to roll out SA mode even now but there is no requirement as not enough uptake has taken place so far. Even the existing capacity will not be utilised fully. But we ultimately plan to shift to SA mode as the demand increases,” said the executive, who didn’t want to be named.

Asked about his views on 700 MHz spectrum and whether Airtel will buy the band in future auctions, he said the company does not intend to buy the band in future also for rolling out SA mode and rather utilise its spectrum in 850 MHz and 900 Mhz bands, which offer the same characteristics.

Currently, around 15 MHz spectrum in 700 MHz is lying with the
Department of Telecommunications<\/a> (DoT). But if there are no takers, the government may allocate some quantum to state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and utilise the remaining for other public works. In the recently concluded auction, Reliance Jio<\/a> had bought 10 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum in each circle for 39,270 crore.

\"Airtel<\/a><\/figure>

Airtel says ‘5G Plus’ network live in eight cities; existing data plans will work on 5G phones<\/a><\/h2>

Airtel’s update of its 5G network comes a day after rival Reliance Jio launched its ‘True 5G’ beta service in four cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Varanasi. The latter aims to deliver 5G to every town, every taluka, and every tehsil by December 2023.<\/p><\/div>