Airtel CEO says postpaid customers will be moved to priority postpaid automatically

Shashwat Sharma, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel

Airtel postpaid customers will be automatically moved to the company’s recently launched Priority Postpaid plans that promises consistent speed even in crowded markets.

In an e-mail to its customers, Shashwat Sharma, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said prepaid customers will need to upgrade to postpaid plans if they want to avail the similar services.

“Airtel Priority Postpaid is available on all our postpaid plans. If you are already on postpaid, you will start enjoying the benefit automatically. If you are currently on prepaid, you can upgrade your existing plan to postpaid by visiting the Airtel App or by simply walking into the nearest Airtel store,” said Sharma.

Airtel Priority Postpaid was launched on May 19, specially designed for consistent experience even in congested areas, made possible through the company’s latest upgrade to 5G network, called slicing.

“Slicing is a capability that has been launched in many other parts of the Western world...Slicing essentially enhances the network, thereby allowing us to offer this extra capability exclusively to our Postpaid Priority customers,” he said.

The slicing technology will separate subscribers of postpaid customers from the rest of the services, and in a way, provide a dedicated fast lane separated from the large bulk of prepaid subscribers.

Global telecom vendors Ericsson and Nokia have called the use of network slicing technology for Priority Postpaid a new milestone in India’s mobile services landscape.

“Our 5G core and slicing capabilities are already powering differentiated connectivity for operators across North America, Europe and Asia and now India. It builds on more than 20 years of partnership with Airtel across mobile, fixed and transport networks,” said Justin Hotard, President and CEO, Nokia.

Similarly, Ericsson President and CEO Borje Ekholm, in a social media post, said that India continues to be a digital frontrunner, and the successful implementation of Digital India over the last decade has been on top of a strong mobile infrastructure.

“Following one of the world’s fastest 5G deployments, India continues to strengthen its position among the most digitally advanced nations with Bharti Airtel’s pioneering launch of differentiated connectivity services for its postpaid customers,” he said.

GMSA, a global trade organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide also said that network slicing has the potential to support a broad range of future digital services and industrial applications, including advanced manufacturing, healthcare, smart cities, public safety and immersive digital experiences across India.

“By enabling multiple virtual networks to operate on shared infrastructure, network slicing can help deliver the performance, reliability and responsiveness required by different use cases, while also supporting continued investment and innovation in next-generation digital infrastructure,” it said.

Published on May 21, 2026