Airtel India - Telemedia

Telemedia

Under the Telemedia segment, Airtel provides broadband internet access through DSL, internet leased lines as well as MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) solutions, as well as IPTV and fixed line telephone services. Until 18 September 2004, Bharti provided fixed line telephony and broadband services under the Touchtel brand. Bharti now provides all telecom services including fixed line services under a common brand airtel. As of September 2012, Airtel provides Telemedia services to 3.3 million customers in 87 cities. As on 30 November 2012, Airtel had 1.39 million broadband subscribers.

Airtel Broadband provides broadband and IPTV services. Airtel provides both capped as well as unlimited download plans. However, Airtel's unlimited plans are subject to free usage policy (FUP), which reduces speed after the customer crosses a certain data usage limit. In some plans, Airtel provides only 256kbit/s beyond FUP, which is lower than the TRAI specified limit of half the subscriber's original speed. The maximum speed available for home users is 16Mbit/s.

In May 2012, Airtel Broadband and some other Indian ISPs temporarily blocked file sharing websites such as vimeo.com megavideo.com, thepiratebay.se etc. with out giving any legal information to the customers. The block was due to a Madras High Court issued ‘John Doe’ order taken by Chennai-based Copyright Lab. In response to a petition filed by Vinay B, a resident of Shimoga, Karnataka, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum ordered Airtel to pay 20,000 to the petitioner for "deficiency in internet service" thereby causing mental agony to the complainant. "By misinterpreting the Madras High Court order, Airtel blocked entire websites. It is needless to say that the company’s actions amount to deficiency in service as well as unfair trade practice," said the forum.