Aircel to launch 4G services by end of year

Leading mobile services provider Aircel has plans to launch 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) services at a mass scale by the end of the year, to pose competition to other market players, according to an ET report.

The company already possesses 4G band in Andhra pradesh, Tamil nadu, Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, the North East and J&K. The company has also announced that it will rollout as many as 13,000 2G,3G and 4G sites across the country. 

Sameer Dave, CTO of the company, told ET that Aircel has to be in the market sooner than later, adding that the company is hopeful of launch by the end of this year. 

Airtel has already launched pan-India 4G services, and Reliance, Idea and Vodafone are supposed to make the services available this year.  

Aircel launched 4G services in 2013 to become the second telecom operator after Airtel to launch 4G services in India. The company had its first launch in Chennai and rest of Tamil Nadu and a few other ‘business critical’ circles. At that time. for developing the infrastructure for 4G services, Aircel partnered with Chinese 4G equipment supplier ZTE.