Bharti Airtel, one of India's top telcos on Friday stated that it had deployed an additional 10MHz spectrum when it comes to the 2300MHz band in the state of Gujarat alongside network software as well as tools that include pre-5G Massive MIMO Carrier Aggregation and 4G Advanced meant to improve network capacity and coverage across the state.
For those of you unaware, Airtel had acquired the 10 MHz spectrum for the state of Gujarat during the spectrum auctions that recently took place. The company stated that, with this fresh spectrum, Airtel now has 70.4MHz of diverse spectrum holdings across bands such as 2300/1800/900. Furthermore, the company is supposedly well-positioned to cater to the growing demand for high-speed data services with readiness for 5G.
Navneet Sharma, the CEO of Gujarat Bharti-Airtel stated that the company has continued to invest aggressively when it comes to the new spectrum as well as network updates in order to deliver a world-class experience to Airtel's customers. With the new block of 2300 band that had been acquired during the recent auctions, the company has erected a future-ready network by building capacities capable of catering to higher-speed data.
What Else Has The Company Done In Recent Times
Airtel stated that with this latest spectrum purchase, it now has a spectrum holding of 68.8MHz in the southern state of Karnataka, whilst the diverse spectrum holdings that are present across 2300MHz, 2100MHz, 1800MHz, and 900MHz band makes it apt for the proper rollout of 5G.
The company, which is also India's second-largest telco deployed an additional 15MHz spectrum, namely 5MHz spectrum in the 1800MHz and 10MHz in the 2300 band coupled with advanced network software tools in the state of Kerela.
The company is also adding extra spectrum when it comes to the 1800MHz and 2300MHz bands in states such as Punjab, MP and Odisha in short duration to ramp up overall 4G coverage as well as boost readiness for 5G. Airtel is also planning to deploy 800MHz spectrum in MP in a couple of weeks as per the report.
In case you missed it, with the auction that was held in March of 2021, Airtel was able to acquire 355.45MHz of the spectrum that was worth Rs 18,699 crore with market leader Jio purchasing a whopping 488.35MHz spectrum spread across 22 circles for a total amount of Rs 57,123 crore.
