Airtel is boosting 4G coverage
Mobile users in India usually face one common problem, which is uniform across the nation: Terrible coverage indoors. How often it happens that the coverage inside home or say lift or basement becomes so bad, that you are forced to go out and then make the call.
Usually, any ongoing call breaks off in between under these situations, and the flow of conversation stops.
Airtel has understood this problem, and to overcome this issue, they will now deploy the superior LTE 900 technology, pan-India.
Now, the question arises: How will LTE 900 overcome bad coverage indoors? And how will Airtel deploy it?
More importantly, what exactly is LTE 900?
Contents
The Problem Of Call Drops Indoor: Who Is The Culprit?
Mobile phones work on the concept of radio waves, which are transmitted via base stations, also called cell sites to your mobiles. These radio waves have frequencies, and the reception or quality of your mobile calls depend on the frequency which your telecom provider uses in your area.
When you are outside, your phone is able to pick up the frequency or band (frequencies are usually used in 3G terminology, and bands in 4G terminology) easily and your call quality is the best.
However, the problem arises when you use phones indoors – this can be the bedroom which is situated deep inside your home, or say the basement which is below the ground level or the lift, which is surrounded by walls.
In such cases of indoor usage, your mobile is not able to receive the frequency/band, and the call quality deteriorates. Not only calls, but also your data coverage is disrupted, and basically, you are not able to do anything with your phone.
You become frustrated, and besides cursing your telecom operator, you cannot do anything.
The Solution: Superior Bandwidth & Frequency
In order to solve the problem of poor coverage indoors, the best solution is to provide better frequency and bandwidth to your phone.
In India, most of the 3G and 4G coverage is provided via 1800 Mhz bandwidth by most of the telcos, whereas 800 Mhz and 900 Mhz are used for 2G coverage. The price of the spectrum and the auction policies are the reasons behind this.
Due to various reasons, most of the telcos in India are using 1800 Mhz and above frequencies for calls and data network, and this is the reason indoor coverage doesn’t work.
Airtel, which is one of the largest telecom providers in India has now decided to use LTE 900 technology, which will be powered with 900 Mhz bandwidth.
And this, will change everything about indoor coverage in the country.
Why LTE 900 Is Superior?
The laws of physics have the answer: Higher the frequency band, lower is the wavelength. In layman terms, radio waves sent out via higher frequency band such as 1800 Mhz will travel lesser distance, compared to lower frequency band such as 900 Mhz.
This is the reason that 1800 Mhz frequency is not able to penetrate the walls of your home, and you get bad coverage. As per studies, 900 Mhz, which Airtel will use for LTE 900 technology, has 30-40% better coverage than 1800 Mhz frequency.
Airtel’s LTE 900 Will Boost Indoor Coverage
Airtel is now gradually shifting to LTE 900 technology, wherein 4G services across India will be powered on the superior 900 Mhz bandwidth.
Infact, 900 Mhz has been in use for 2G coverage since last 20 years, and 1800 Mhz has been in use only since 2001 after Govt. opened up the spectrum.
But unlike other telcos, Airtel has clearly decoded the problem of bad coverage due to 1800 Mhz, and this is the reason they will now provide 2G using 1800 Mhz, and 4G using 900 Mhz, via LTE 900 technology.
The gradual rollout of Airtel’s LTE 900 using 900 Mhz has already started, as now users across 10 circles are now receiving superior indoor coverage. These circles are: Mumbai, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kolkata, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, North East, Assam and Rajasthan
Besides LTE 900, Airtel is also using 2300 Mhz (TD LTE), 1800 Mhz (FD LTE) for a faster Internet in these locations.
Very soon, Airtel will introduce pre-5G Massive MIMO, 4G Advanced and Carrier Aggregation for optimizing network capacity and 4G coverage.
Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6