Airtel deploys 4G Advanced Carrier Aggregation in Bengaluru

Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”), India’s largest telecommunications services provider, has deployed 4G Advanced technology (carrier aggregation across TD LTE and LTE FDD) in Bengaluru.

This 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 launched its 4G services in Bengaluru in 2012 on the 2300 Mhz band using the TD LTE standard and recently added capacity on the 1800 Mhz band using FD LTE. With today’s rollout, Bengaluru is among the few cities globally to have high speed data services over 4G Advanced.

Under the carrier aggregation deployment, the capacities of TD LTE (2300 MHz spectrum band) and FD LTE (1800 MHz spectrum band) have been combined to enable better spectrum utilization and efficiency. 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, C. Surendran, CEO – Karnataka, Bharti Airtel Limited 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 IT Capital of the country. With the additional network capacity, customers in Bengaluru can look forward considerably improved data speeds and better coverage.”

The deployment is a part of Airtel’s ongoing network transformation program – Project Leap, under which Airtel plans to invest Rs 60,000 crores over the next 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.