Indian telecom giant, Bharti Airtel has announced to deploy an additional 9.6 MHz in 900 MHz spectrum band for high-speed data services in the hilly state of Himachal Pradesh. According to the Airtel Upper North Hub CEO Manu Sood, the high propagation and reach of the 900 MHz spectrum will enable wider network availability and improved data speeds along with better coverage inside homes and buildings in urban and rural areas.
“This augmentation complements recently deployed 17.4 MHz additional spectrum across Himachal Pradesh and will further strengthen the network capabilities benefitting the access of high-speed data services to customers,” Sood said.
Sood further assured that better data connectivity and speed was in line with the company’s long term growth plan in the state. “The deployment of 9.6 MHz in 900 MHz spectrum band for high-speed data services is in line with our endeavour to deliver deep indoor and wider reach to our customers across Himachal Pradesh. We continue to invest aggressively on network upgrades and new spectrum to deliver a world-class service experience at a time when our customers need it the most,” he said.
Airtel has the largest spectrum bank at 70 MHz in Himachal Pradesh with 40 MHz in 2300 MHz band, 20 MHz in 1800 MHz + 2100 MHz bands, and 10 MHz in 900 MHz band, he added.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the adoption of the work from home, online classes, video streaming has witnessed a massive surge, he added. “Airtel’s intervention to build additional capacities will go a long way in helping customers stay connected,” Sood added. Airtel has also deployed advanced network technologies and tools such as pre-5G Massive MIMO, 4G Advanced and Carrier Aggregation to step up high-speed network capacity and coverage.
