Bharti Airtel on Wednesday (21 December) announced the launch of its 5G services in Imphal, the capital city of Manipur.

With this, Imphal has become the second city in North East India to get 5G connectivity after Assam's capital Guwahati.

Airtel had launched its 5G services in Guwahati last month.

In a statement, Airtel said that its 5G services will be available to customers in Imphal in a phased manner as the company continues to construct its network and complete the roll out.

Customers with 5G enabled devices will enjoy high speed Airtel 5G Plus network at no extra cost until the roll out is more widespread.

"Currently operational at Akampat area, War Cemetery, Dewlahland area, Takyelpat area, RIMS Imphal area, New Secretariat, Babupara area, Nagaram, Ghari, Uripok, Sagolband and few other select locations, Airtel will augment its network making its services available across the city in due course of time," the company said.

Commenting on the launch, Rajnish Verma, CEO of Bharti Airtel in Assam and North East, said, “I am thrilled to announce the launch of Airtel 5G Plus in Imphal. Airtel customers can now experience ultrafast network and enjoy speeds upto 20-30 times faster than the current 4G speeds. We are in the process of lighting up the entire city which will allow customers to enjoy superfast access to High-definition video streaming, gaming, multiple chatting, instant uploading of photos and more.”

Airtel is offering the Non Standalone (NSA) version of 5G. In NSA mode, the 5G network is built over the existing layer of 4G network. It is different from the architecture of Standalone mode of 5G in which the network is built from scratch. 

The company, which has already made its 5G services live in multiple cities, plans to launch it country-wide by the end of next year.

Airtel 5G Plus services are currently live in 15 cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur, Varanasi, Panipat, Gurugram, Guwahati, Patna, Lucknow, Shimla and Imphal.