New Delhi, Nov 27 (IANS): Bharti Airtel has launched its first fourth generation (4G) services in Africa in the Seychelles, a company statement said here Thursday.

"Airtel has launched the service on a state-of-the-art network based on FD-LTE (Frequency Division-Long Term Evolution), making the Seychelles amongst the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to commercially deploy this cutting-edge technology. This is Airtel's first commercial LTE network in Africa," it said.

The launch took place Wednesday evening.

The company said though the infrastructure is new, it will more than meet the growing customer demand for mobile broadband services. The network is expected to cover 10,000 LTE subscribers in the first phase.

"We already have Africa's widest 3G footprint, being present in 17 countries. We are delighted to now provide leadership in setting the technology standard for 4G services in Africa by rolling out this cutting edge LTE network," Christian de Faria, chief executive officer, Airtel Africa, said.

Bharti Airtel is the first telecom service provider in India also to launch 4G services in April 2012.

Airtel 4G services are now available in 15 Indian cities - Bangalore, Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Phagwara, Hoshiarpur, Nagpur, Patiala, Pune and Nasik.