 "A worker cleans a logo of Bharti Airtel at its zonal office building in Chandigarh")
Bharti Airtel continues to up the ante in the data game and has now deployed carrier aggregation in Bengaluru, which allows an operator to aggregate fragments of spectrum to deliver higher speeds. Airtel has now combined the capacities of TD LTE (2,300 megahertz, or Mhz, spectrum band) and FD LTE (1,800 Mhz spectrum band) to enable better spectrum utilisation and efficiency.
The company first deployed this in Kerala and later in Mumbai. By deploying this in key metros, the company is looking at providing data customers higher bandwidth. The company launched its 4G services in Bengaluru in 2012 on the 2,300 Mhz band using the TD LTE standard and recently added capacity on the 1,800 Mhz band using FD LTE. With Thursday’s rollout, Bengaluru is among the few cities globally to have high speed data services over 4G Advanced.
Under carrier aggregation, subscribers of Airtel will now be able to offer speeds of up to 135 Mbps. The deployment is part of Airtel’s ongoing network transformation programme, Project Leap, under which it plans to invest ~60,000 crore over three years to meet the growing demand of voice and high speed data services in India and deliver the best network experience to its customers.
In February 2016, Airtel deployed India’s first carrier aggregation in Kerala and the network achieved 4G data speeds of up to 135 Mbps on commercially available mobile devices. Commenting on the launch, Bharti Airtel Karnataka chief executive officer C Surendran said: “Airtel has led the rollout of 4G services in Bengaluru and, with the deployment of 4G Advanced, we are taking a quantum leap in delivering a superior mobile broadband experience to our customers in the information technology capital of the country. With additional network capacity, customers in Bengaluru can look forward considerably to improved data speeds and better coverage.”
GETTING MORE BANDWIDTH
- Airtel offers up to 135 Mbps via 4G carrier aggregation in Bengaluru too
- It has now combined the capacities of TD LTE (2,300 Mhz spectrum band) and FD LTE (1,800 Mhz spectrum band) to enable better spectrum utilisation and efficiency
- The deployment is part of Airtel’s ongoing network transformation programme, Project Leap, under which it plans to invest ~60,000 crore over three years to meet the growing demand of voice and high speed data services in India
