Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal has taken an early-mover advantage in fourth-generation (4G) segment, with Bharti Airtel on Thursday announcing a commercial launch of these services in 296 towns, ahead of the planned December launch of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio.

A look at how the two companies score on the 4G plans... 

• Rolls out fourth-generation (4G) data service across 296 cities
• Airtel's service is India's first FDD-LTE 4G on 1,800 MHz in six circles.
• FDD (Frequency-Division Duplex) gives better reception. For other cities, Airtel will offer service on 2,300 MHz. Spectrum in multiple frequencies are expected to give seamless voice and data experience
• Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo, Asus and Huawei handsets to come with Airtel 4G data plans. Bharti Airtel strikes alliance with Samsung to educate customers on its 4G.
• Handset prices start from Rs 6,000 a piece and go up to Rs 47,999 a piece. Also ties up with Flipkart
• Offers unlimited voice, free with data packs. Prices 3GB data and unlimited calls within Airtel's network at Rs 999/month. In Rs 1,999, 7GB data free, with unlimited local and STD calls and free roaming
• Offers free movies on Wynk Movies and Wynk Music to consumers as add-on services 

RELIANCE JIO

• Plans to launch in 18,000 cities and towns across 29 states. By December, service will be offered across 80% of these towns
• Jio is the only operator in the world providing digital service over an end-to-end all-IP network. Has pan-India spectrum in 2,300 MHZ and will offer Voice over LTE (VOLTE) in most circles. Additional spectrum in 1,800 MHz acquired in 14 circles, which can deliver superior voice service
• Jio ties up with 26 handset makers to manufacture handsets for the Indian market. Likely to launch Jio-branded 4G-enabled handsets at Rs 4,000 a piece at the time of the launch
• Expected to offer voice free, with data, which is expected to be priced at between Rs 400 and Rs 600 a pack
• Jio has a host of service offerings starting with video-on-demand to Jio Money (online payment services), Jio Chat (app to do word and video chats), Jio Beats to offer music streaming service