Gone are the days when you could get speeds of over 100 Mbps only on fixed line broadband network. Airtel has rejigged its network in Mumbai to offer up to 135 Mbps speed on your 4G mobile phones.
The operator has deployed 4G Advanced technology (carrier aggregation across TD LTE and LTE FDD) in Mumbai.
“The deployment will result in a superior 4G experience for Airtel customers through considerably faster data speeds and better coverage – indoors and outdoors. Customers with mobile devices that support 4G Advanced will be able to enjoy 4G data speeds of up to 135 Mbps,’’ Airtel said in a statement.
Airtel had launched its 4G services in Mumbai in May 2015 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 today’s rollout, Mumbai is among the few cities globally to have high speed data services that combined both these spectrum bands.
Under the carrier aggregation deployment, the capacities of TD LTE (2,300 MHz spectrum band) and FD LTE (1,800 MHz spectrum band) have been combined to enable better spectrum utilisation and efficiency.
In February 2016, Airtel had 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.
According to Ajai Puri, Director – Operations (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, “With the deployment of 4G Advanced, we are taking a quantum leap in delivering a superior mobile broadband experience to our customers. With the additional network capacity, customers in Mumbai can look forward considerably improved data speeds and better coverage. We will extend the deployment of 4G Advanced in other geographies in the coming months.”
The deployment comes ahead of Reliance Jio launching its services commercially.