After one year of Jio’s launch, India has got its second telecom operator, Airtel, offering VoLTE services. It has been a long wait. But finally, it is yet again an Indian telecom company which has gone live with its VoLTE services.
Starting with Mumbai, Airtel has said that VoLTE will be available on 4G LTE enabled smartphones carrying 4G SIM cards. Along with HD voice calls, it will also offer faster call setup times.
When we had reported about Airtel’s plans to launch VoLTE last week, it was the only operator planning to do so. Now BSNL has announced its plans to launch VoLTE services across India.
Airtel VoLTE: Finally Some Competition For Jio
Until now, Jio has been the sole telecom player to offer VoLTE services over its super-advanced LTE-only network in India. That is all set to change as now Airtel and later, other players launch their VoLTE services. Competition is always good for consumers.
There will be no additional data charges for VoLTE and calls will be billed as per existing plans or pack benefits.
Airtel is claiming to offer seamless connectivity enabled by its far-reaching 4G network connectivity. Unlike Jio, Airtel has its 3G and 2G networks to fall back on whenever there is no 4G connectivity. This will ensure that users remain connected at all times.
Abhay Savargaonkar, Director – Networks, Bharti Airtel said, “This is a significant milestone in Airtel’s network transformation journey under Project Leap. Airtel has built a world-class 4G network across India and with the VoLTE compatible device ecosystem beginning to mature, we believe it’s the right time to enable VoLTE calling as part of our service portfolio. Over the next few months, we will rapidly accelerate the deployment of VoLTE to cover all key geographies to bring HD quality calling to our customers. We keenly look forward to our device partners enabling Airtel VoLTE on their smartphones.”
How To Get Airtel VoLTE
- Check your smartphone’s compatibility at www.airtel.in/volte. Airtel has tested and certified popular device models for VoLTE compatibility and more models will keep getting added to this list.
- Upgrade your smartphone’s operating software to the latest version that supports VoLTE. This update is provided by the handset manufacturer.
- Ensure that your smartphone has an Airtel 4G SIM. You can upgrade to a 4G SIM by visiting the nearest Airtel store.
- Enable VoLTE by following instructions on www.airtel.in/volte
- For dual-SIM smartphones, you will have to make sure that you have inserted Airtel’s 4G SIM in the slot supporting 4G VoLTE and network has been set to receive 4G signals.
Some of the popular smartphones compatible with Airtel VoLTE are; iPhone SE / 6 / 6plus / 6S / 6S plus /7 /7 plus; Samsung J700 / A800 / J2 Pro / J2 2016; Xiaomi Mi Max Prime / Redmi Note 4 / Mi Max / Mi 5; Gionee A1 and Oppo F3 plus. This list will get bigger as more and more smartphones are added to the list.
Airtel has also deployed 4G Advanced Carrier Aggregation technology in Mumbai that enables data speeds of up to 135 Mbps by combining spectrum capacities in 2300 Mhz (TD LTE) and 1800 Mhz (FD LTE).