Following the launch of its 4G services in Kolkata and Karnataka circles, earlier this year, Airtel has been able to sign-up 3,180 subscribers. The data was provided by the Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, Milind Deora in the Lok Sabha, adding that the Indian Government had provided Broad Band Wireless Access (BWA) Spectrum for 4G services to six different service providers through Auction apart from BSNL & MTNL. He also added BSNL has provided 50,077 connections through 4G/WiMAX. We are not surprised that the response to Airtel's service has been anything but luke-warm due to: - High tariff: the tariffs for access were really high, starting at Rs 999 for 6GB data, going upto Rs 1,999 for 18GB data, and the speeds being throttled down to 128kbps after the user crossed the data limit. Also the USP of 4G was speed and the data caps are ridiculous as high quality video content gobble up tremendous amount of data. - Absence of devices & high cost of existing ones: 4G-compatible handsets or tablets that can work on Airtel's frequency band aren’t available in Indian market yet. Airtel offers LTE compatible multi-mode USB dongles and an Indoor Wireless gateway. The access devices are expensive with the USB dongle being priced at Rs 7,999 and the Indoor wireless gateway priced at Rs 7,750. The company bundles devices with plans if a customer commits to sign up for a long-term contract. With the entry costs being so high, one can't expect to find many takers for the service. - Partial coverage: Airtel had…
