Indian telecom operators are gearing up for the battle for supremacy in 4G LTE. The year 2016 will be the year of 4G in India. We will witness drastic changes in the Indian telecom sector as all BIG telcos are jumping onto the 4G services bandwagon and small players are getting acquired.
As the first mover, India’s top telecom operator Bharti Airtel started offering 4G LTE service to its customers way back in 2012. After a sluggish start, Airtel is now aggressively pushing its 4G services. Joining the race telecom majors Vodafone India and Idea Cellular started offering their 4G LTE service in selected Indian cities towards the end of 2015. But the BIG fish in the 4G telecom sector is yet to come – Reliance Jio the telecom arm of Reliance Industries which hold pan-India 4G LTE license is expected to launch its service by mid-2016. Jio’s commercial launch will definitely disturb the Indian telecom sector.
Indian 4G LTE network is distributed under different LTE frequency bands spectrum. If you are looking to move to a 4G network, then you should find the right compatible 4G LTE capable devices. Indian telecom operators have received spectrum license to operate 4G LTE networks over BAND 5 LTE FDD (850 Mhz), BAND 3 LTE FDD (1800 Mhz), BAND 40 LTE TDD (2300 Mhz) and BAND 41 LTE TDD (2500 Mhz). Your best bet is to get a smartphone that supports BAND 40 or BAND 3, as the majority of the telcos operate under this BAND.
Coming to the last question, which the operator has 4G service in my area? We have come up with a 4G network map of India that highlights the allotted 4G license and supported BAND for different telecom operators in India.
| Telecom Circle | Airtel | Reliance Jio | Vodafone Idea | BSNL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi | BAND 3, 40, 5, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 8, 1 | BAND 8 |
| Mumbai | BAND 3, 40, 5, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 8, 1 | BAND 8 |
| Kolkata | BAND 3, 40, 8 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 1 | BAND 8 |
| Andhra Pradesh | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8 |
| Gujarat | BAND 3, 40, 5, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 8 |
| Karnataka | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8 |
| Maharastra | BAND 3, 40, 5, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 40, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 8 |
| Tamil Nadu | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8 |
| Haryana | BAND 3, 40, 5, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
| Kerala | BAND 3, 40, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 40, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
| Madhya Pradesh | BAND 3, 40, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 40, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
| Punjab | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 8, 1 | BAND 8, 41 |
| Rajasthan | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 8, 41 |
| Uttar Pradesh (East) | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
| Uttar Pradesh (West) | BAND 3, 40, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
| West Bengal | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
| Assam | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
| Bihar | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 1 | BAND 8, 41 |
| Himachal Pradesh | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 1 | BAND 8, 41 |
| North East | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
| Orissa | BAND 3, 40, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 5, 40 | BAND 3, 41, 8, 1 | BAND 3, 8, 41 |
Hope it must have helped you a bit to find the perfect 4G service provider in your area. We will update the above chart once we get more information. If any doubts regarding this let me know by commenting below.
Note: The above data may contain errors, as it’s been collected manually from numerous sources.