Telecom major Bharti Airtel has started delivering 4G mobile broadband speed of up to 135 megabits per second in Kerala. Airtel has pioneered 4G deployment in India. To deliver this high speed, Airtel said that it has used carrier aggregation across TD LTE and LTE FDD on a LIVE 4G network, becoming the first mobile operator in India to commercially deploy LTE-Advanced (4G+) technology. With this, Airtel has joined a select group of global mobile operators to commercially deploy the technology that delivers ultra-fast mobile data speeds and enables better spectrum utilization and efficiency.

For carrier aggregation, Airtel has combined the capacities of spectrum held by it in 2300 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrum bands. Nokia Networks has partnered Airtel in deploying the carrier aggregation technology in Kerala. Carrier aggregation enables enhanced spectrum efficiency by combining capacities across multiple LTE carriers (within same or different spectrum bands) to deliver a superior user experience and ultra-fast mobile data speeds.

Airtel at present has the largest 4G network in the country with LIVE services in over 350 towns. Competition in the 4G space is expected to intensify in the coming months. Airtel is planning to invest Rs 60,000 crore over the next three years to meet the growing demand of voice and high speed data services in India.