Airtel looks to expand its 4G footprints in rural areas: Report

Airtel is also looking to ramp up its 4G capacity in urban areas as well as prepare for the upgrade to 5G.

Airtel picks wireless hauling firm Ceragon for the 4G network expansion (REUTERS)

Airtel is looking to expand its 4G footprint in the rural areas of the country as the competition with Reliance Jio continues to intensify. The operator has selected Ceragon's telecom solutions for the expansion of 4G, reported ET Telecom.

Apart from the rural areas, Airtel is aiming to bolster its 4G capacity in urban areas. The operator also aims to prepare for the imminent upgrade to 5G. Ceragon's products and services will be used by Airtel starting the first quarter of this year.

According to the report, Ceragon's solutions such as all-outdoor dual-carriers microwave radios can help Airtel handle the growing demands for the network capacity. It can also help grow the network capacity for a longer period of time.

"As an established strategic partner of Airtel for over a decade, Ceragon delivers innovative technology, products and services that enable us to achieve quick and dynamic network deployments. Ceragon's wireless hauling solutions and services allow us to quickly adapt to our customers' changing needs and deliver higher speeds with reliable, first-time-right rollouts," Randeep Sekhon, Chief Technology Officer of Airtel told ET Telecom.

According to a recent OpenSignal report, Airtel offered better video experience, voice app experience, download speed experience, and latency experience than its rivals. Reliance Jio, however, had a superior 4G availability and 4G coverage experience.

The telecom operators are working to handle the stress on the telecom infrastructure as people are turning to digital tools to communicate and collaborate due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to telecom ministry data, India's internet consumption increased by 13% since the nationwide lockdown was imposed. Indians consumed 308 petabytes (PB) or 308,000 terabytes (TB) of data daily on an average for the week beginning March 22.