Indian cellco Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of India’s first multi-mode Long Term Evolution Time Division Duplex (LTE-TDD) smartphone in cooperation with Qualcomm Technologies and Huawei. Huawei’s Ascend P1 LTE smartphone utilises Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 processor and handles high speed data via the LTE network, and voice calls on the 3G network through Circuit Switched Fall Back (CSFB) technology. As noted by TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, April this year saw Bharti launch India’s first 4G network in Kolkata.
CEO of Bharti’s India and South Asia arm Sanjay Kapoor commented on the launch: ‘We took the lead in introducing India’s first 4G service in Kolkata and continue to commit towards driving the country’s broadband agenda. As applicable to any new technology across the world, the long term adoption of 4G will rely on a variety of factors, specifically the device ecosystem readiness. The availability of 4G voice and data compatible devices will play a defining role in massifying 4G, and driving its adoption.’