The evolution of mobile networks in India
The 2015 spectrum auction that was concluded after 19 days and 115 rounds of bidding in the end of March saw 5 new rounds of bidding, is Rs 1,09,874 crore. This was 36.86% higher than than the Rs 80,277 crore the government had targeted from the auctions, based on the reserve price set by it.
This bidding was a primarily motivated with the idea of evolution of the networks and the year 2015 might be one of the game changers in the Indian telecom industry. With the Mukesh Ambani's telecom giant RJIL debuting this year with LTE & FTTH , we can see a rapid change in the broadband picture in India. This can be witnessed by searching "4g" or "LTE" on any e-commerce website which will yield more than 63 models. 4G/LTE phones market is growing day by day in India.
R-Jio : The game changer
Ater five years in the making, the 2015-end launch of Reliance Jio, the telecom business of Reliance Industries , India’s second-biggest firm by value, is making its rivals anxious. Having spent more than Rs.85,000 crore to build a network that will take on established operators such as Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone India Ltd.
R-Jio, which got a telecom license in June 2010, plans to provide 4G (fourth-generation) services, using LTE (long-term evolution) technology, in the 800 megahertz (MHz), 1800MHz and 2300MHz bands through an integrated ecosystem. With access to these bands, R-Jio has spectrum in 20 of the 22 circles in the country in the 800MHz and 1800MHz bands. The firm has access to the 2300MHz band across all 22 circles. The network was deployed by Samsung with around more than 1 lakh LTE eNB installed accross the country.
The Current Scenario
The telecom companies in India can deploy LTE on 2.3Ghz utilizing the TDD technique which can yield and theoretical throughput of around 115Mbps. The other strategy is to utilize the existing 1800Mhz spectrum for LTE after freeing it from existing 2G.This can yield upto 30Mbps of throughput in good conditions for 5Mhz bandwidth.
Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel launched India's first 4G network in Kolkata.The company was allocated 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in 2.3 GHz frequency band. Airtel's TD-LTE network is built and operated by ZTE in Kolkata and Punjab, Huawei in Karnataka, and Nokia Siemens Networks in Maharashtra and Goa.Airtel obtained 4G licences and spectrum in the telecom circles of Delhi, Haryana, Kerala and Mumbai after acquiring Wireless Business Services Private Limited, a joint venture founded by Qualcomm, which had won BWA spectrum in those circles in the 4G spectrum auction.As of July 2015, Airtel provides 4G coverage in 36 cities. (Source : Wikipedia).
Aircel
Aircel had launched 4G services in Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir in August 2014, becoming the only private telecom operator to offer all the three existing technologies of 2G, 3G and 4G in these markets. Aircel awarded the project to ZTE to deploy the networks.
Future Expansions
TDD - LTE
Airtel holds 20Mhz spectrum on 2.3Ghz which can be used for LTE rollout for Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerela and Punjab. Some of the networks are already launched and others are under trials.
Aircel can launch TD-LTE in AP, West Bengal ,North east, Assam, Orissa and Bihar on 2.3 Ghz band.
Tikona broadband holds the licenses for 2.3GHz for Gujarat, Rajasthan, U.P East, U.P. West and Himachal Pradesh while Augere holds the licenses for MP circle.
BSNL also holds the spectrum for 2.3 Ghz band for 14 circles and can make a huge impact.
R-Jio holds the 2.3 Ghz spectrum for all the circles in India - 20Mhz bandwidth
FDD-LTE
The network strategy would be reduce the 1800Mhz spectrum being used for 2G services and deploy LTE over the band. Though most of the mobile operators have only a surplus of only 5Mhz in this band, the throughput that can be achieved is around 30-40 Mbps.
Airtel can deploy FDD LTE On 5Mhz for Delhi,Mumbai,Kolkata,Andhra Pradesh,Gujarat,Karnataka,Maharastra,Tamil Nadu/Chennai,Haryana,Kerala,Madhya Pradesh,Punjab,Rajasthan,Uttar pradesh West circle.
Vodafone can deploy 4G serives for LTE FDD for Tamil Nadu/Chennai,Mumbai,Karnataka,Delhi,Kolkata,Punjab,Andhra Pradesh circles.
Idea can utilize its existing spectrum and deploy 4G services for Maharastra,Delhi,Punjab,Madhya Pradesh,West Bengal,Uttar pradesh East,Rajasthan,Andhra Pradesh,Haryana,Tamil Nadu/Chennai,North East,Orissa,Karnataka,Kolkata,Assam,Jammu & Kashmir circles.
The other players like Uninor, Videocon and MTNL can also deploy their services on a few circles.
Conclusion
Mobile networks are evolving and this year a number of 4G networks might be deployed in the country. With debut of RJio there might be a very competitive data pricing which may result in benefits to the customer. Before buying any 4G Mobile model ,the user should check if it supports both FDD-LTE / TDD-LTE based on the network configuration of the operator in the location
