Aircel India considers TD-LTE for 2.3GHz Band

Aircel considers TD-LTE for 2.3GHz

(Nicole McCormick telecomasia.net)

Indian GSM cellco Aircel could launch TD-LTE in the eight circles where it recently won 2.3GHz spectrum, according to the firm’s strategy and emerging business chief, Bharat Bhargava.

“We have multiple options at this stage,” Bhargava told telecomasia.net.

“We could deploy 802.16e, or wait and deploy TD-LTE, or rollout both [technologies].

“We could use some spectrum for Wimax, and the balance for TD-LTE when terminals become available.”

Maxis-controlled Aircel – India’s seventh largest cellco – won 2.3GHz spectrum in eight regions for 34.38 billion rupees ($749.3 million) earlier this month.

It now has both 2.3GHz spectrum and 2100MHz spectrum in eight circles, including Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, with 3G-only spectrum in a further five markets.

“We wanted 2.3GHz spectrum and 3G spectrum in the same areas….to ensure we don’t run out of spectrum in those regions since we only have 5MHz of spectrum [per circle] for 3G,” said Bhargava.