Airtel postpaid customers will be automatically moved to the company's recently launched "Priority Postpaid" plans, which promise consistent speed even in crowded markets, a senior company official said on Thursday.

Airtel India, MD and CEO, Shashwat Sharma, in a letter to customers, said prepaid customers will need to upgrade to postpaid plans to avail 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 prepaid, you can upgrade your existing plan to postpaid by visiting the Airtel App," he said.

On May 19, Bharti Airtel introduced Priority Postpaid 5G plans to offer its subscribers faster and more reliable telecom services, even during peak traffic times, by allocating a dedicated portion of the network for these users and separating them from other service categories.

The company has leveraged network slicing technology for rolling out "Priority Postpaid" plans.

"Many of you have told us how you sometimes struggle to make that video call or download an email or upload a photo in a crowded market, a traffic jam or an event. "This is a problem that we have been keen to solve. That's why we have launched Airtel Priority Postpaid. Airtel Priority Postpaid is specially designed to give you a consistent experience even in congested areas," Sharma 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.

Nokia claimed to be the vendor behind enabling network slicing technology.

"We are proud that Nokia technology is helping to power this capability. 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," Nokia, President and CEO, Justin Hotard said in a social media post.

He said India continues to lead with innovation, scale and speed.

Ericsson President and CEO Borje Ekholm, in a social media post, said that India continues to be a digital frontrunner, and the very 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.

Bharti Airtel joins frontrunner service providers across the USA, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand that are offering differentiated go-to-market experiences, enabled by advanced 5G solutions," he said.

Published on May 21, 2026