India's Bharti Airtel has become the first operator to deploy LTE services on the archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar.
The deployment, which forms part of Airtel's Project Leap network transformation program, has initially been concentrated on Port Blair. The network will be gradually expanded to other parts of the islands.
Airtel is offering customers the ability to upgrade to a 4G SIM for free, and is offering a range of prepaid and postpaid plans with bundled media and other content.
The network in Andaman and Nicobar was launched by the secretary of the Department of Telecom Aruna Sundarajan and MP Bishnu Pada Ray.
“The launch of 4G services in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is another major milestone towards fulfilling our vision of digitally connected India,” Sundarajan said.
“I congratulate the team at Airtel for taking the lead in rolling out these services in such remote locations and bringing the benefits of mobile broadband to citizens. We ensure the industry of continued support in their efforts to provide broadband access to every Indian.”
Airtel was the first private Indian operator to provide mobile services to the archipelago in 2005. The operator also launched India's first 4G network in 2012 in the Kolkata circle.