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Bharti Airtel Deploys Additional Airwaves Across Two Bands in Kerala

Bharti Airtel announced that it is adding additional spectrum in the 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands in Kerala to boost its network in the state.

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On Thursday, Bharti Airtel said that it has deployed additional spectrum in Kerala. The telco is adding 5 Mhz spectrum in the 1800 Mhz and 10 MHz in 2300 band. With this, Airtel is aiming to boost data capacity in the state.

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Bharti Airtel Boosts Network Capacity in Kerala

In the spectrum sale concluded early in March, the telco acquired 1800, 2300 and 900 Mhz spectrum for Kerala.

Airtel also said that it is ready to deal with the growing demand for high speed data services.

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Marut Dilwari, COO – Kerala, Bharti Airtel, said, "the additional network deployment and new technology upgrades will massively enhance our network capacity to serve the growing data requirement of customers". 

Along with deploying the additional spectrum, the telco also deployed advanced network technologies and tools. These include pre-5G Massive MIMO, 4G Advanced and Carrier Aggregation to step up high speed network capacity and coverage.

It further added a cheeky "and its network is fully ready for 5G" to the statement as well. The speculation is already growing around both Airtel and Reliance Jio regarding who will launch 5G first. The top two telcos don't hide the fact that they are ready for a rollout any given day, either, adding fuel to the fire.

Both the telcos made a deal in April to share the 800 MHz spectrum the former acquired at the auction. Interestingly, this band is capable of supporting 5G services, albeit it can only support an NSA network.

The government's attitude regarding 5G airwaves is also causing a stalemate. The rates are astonishingly high at Rs. 492 Crore per MHz - the UK has pricing seven times cheaper. The telcos say they won't bid on anything at this price point, and DoT is with the telcos on this one. The telcos are also demanding more variety of airwaves, and that is also becoming a point of contention fast.

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