Operator will continue 4G rollout through a combination of LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD
Indian mobile telephony operator Bharti Airtel has launched 4G LTE-FDD trials for its existing customers in Chennai and Mumbai.
During the trials, customers in these two cities can obtain a complimentary upgrade to Airtel 4G at 3G prices. The operator will use this trial phase as an opportunity to receive customer feedback about the quality of its 4G services.
Airtel had launched these LTE trials through spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band. In April 2012, the telco had launched India’s first LTE service in Kolkata through spectrum in the 2,300 MHz band.
The operator has already launched LTE services in 23 cities across the country including Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chandigarh and Amritsar.
“We are in the process of rolling out 4G aggressively in some of our key cities through a combination of both LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD,” Bharti Airtel CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal said during a recent conference call with investors.
By the end of March, the operator had approximately 20,000 4G sites across India. The number of 4G sites is expected to grow to 40,000 by the end of March 2016, according to Bharti Airtel’s chairman Sunil Mittal.
The operator had a total of 226 million mobile telephony subscribers across India by the end of March, up 10% year-on-year. LTE customers reached over 320,000.
According to previous reports, Airtel expects to launch LTE-FDD services in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, North East and Punjab by December, in Karnataka by February and in Rajasthan by April. The Indian operator has selected Nokia Networks to carry out these new network deployments.
In related news, Bharti Airtel said that it has received financing commitments of up to $2.5 billion from China Development Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
These funds will enable the company to diversify its global financing pool and access funds to invest in the growth of data networks across its global operations. Bharti Airtel has operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.
