Will a US bought iPad (newest) on Verizon work in India?

Question

Im looking to buy an ipad here in the US as a gift for a friend in India.

I have looked at the 4G LTE bands and am not betting on if Indian carriers may end up using the same bands, but what concerns me is the following:

Is the iPad(AT&T or Verizon) locked to its respective network?

Since the GSM/HSPA+ use similar frequencies in India, could I possibly plug in an Airtel (local carrier) SIM and expect 3G to work well at least?

Answer 1

According to this footnote on an Apple iPad page:

iPad models are unlocked and may support LTE networks outside the country of purchase when using a valid SIM from a supported carrier. Contact your carrier for more details.

Based on this information, your iPad should work on international networks using a local SIM, with the caveat that the local network provides data service in the bands that your iPad supports.

The AT&T and Verizon models support different bands, as noted on this Apple iPad 4th Gen page:

Model A1459*

• GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• LTE (Bands 4 and 17)

Model A1460*

• CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)

The iPad Mini supports similar bands.