Within three days of Airtel launching its 3G services in Bangalore, it saw over one lakh of its 2G users switch to the 3G experience. Expecting similar switchover in TamilNadu, Airtel on Thursday rolled out 3G mobile services in Tamil Nadu, where it has a customer base of 1.2 crore, initially spanning Chennai and Coimbatore. It delivers its mobile services through a network of 11,000 cell sites, a good number of which will have co-located 3G equipment. Film actor and Airtel's brand ambassador Karthi, who took Airtel's first 3G connection in the State, said he was really excited about the possibilities that his phone opened up for him now.

Film actor and Airtel's brand ambassador Karthi, who was put on video call, feigned to be held up at a distant location before walking into the thick of the launch, where a demo package on the 3G experience played out to the background score of Aerosmith's ‘Dream On’. The actor said the cool thing about 3G is that one would be able to catch up with the news on live TV, video-calling home and indulging in video blogging. The only disadvantage is that he can no longer lie about his whereabouts, he joked. Airtel has also put together tariff plans to suit every category of 3G customer, from the “sachets” for occasional users to the “flexi-shield” plan for subscribers with heavy data consumption. The network has been customised to provide 3G services on the same SIM cards that 2G users were having.