Collaborations & Deployments To Bring New Vigor In The 4G Equipment Industry

By Pratik Kirve

4G services have reached the major part of the world and the improved connectivity and speed have been providing numerous benefits to people and businesses across the globe. However, there are still some regions that are remote and unpopulated and deprived of 4G services. Market players have adopted various strategies to reach those regions along with enhancing the connectivity across the regions. Tech giants have partnered with local players to improve the offerings and accessibility to people. Moreover, they have been taking various measures by deployment of 4G equipment across the countries. The deployment for 4G equipment is on rise. According to the report by Allied Market Research, the global 4G equipment market is expected to reach $185.05 billion by 2026. Following are some of the trends taking place in the industry:

Collaboration with local network players:

Tech giants have adopted the strategy of partnership with local carriers to expand their networks and gain major share in the market. Huawei Canada partnered with local carriers Iristel and ICE Wireless for offering 4G services to rural parts and remote areas by 2025. The company has plans to involve 20 communities from the Arctic region of the country and 50 communities from Northeastern Quebec. Moreover, the tech giant has been planning to bring high-speed wireless service for unconnected parts of Labrador and Newfoundland. Alykhan Velshi, Huawei Canada’s Vice President of Corporate Affairs, outlined that the firm cannot ignore the fact that many remote areas in the country do not have 3G or 4G LTE service. This initiative is helpful for fulfilling the commitment of United Nations to provide high-speed internet to the entire country by 2030. Though most of the Canadians have an access to high-speed internet, few less populated areas are still unconnected. The firm is committed to offer internet access to all the areas, even where the service may not be economically viable.

Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia grabbed a contract for supplying 4G equipment to Vodafone Idea Ltd. (VIL) across its different areas. The company outlined that Nokia would deploy telecom equipment including Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), Single RAN Advanced, and small cells as a part of the deal. Nokia highlighted that this contract would enable customers of VIL to gain applications and services at higher bandwidths. Vishant Vora, the Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone Idea, highlighted that the comprehensive usage of DSRs, UBRs, m-MIMOs, and HetNets are vital for exercising this plan in the integration exercise. Nokia stated that its Single RAN solution will help VIL in simplification of its network installation and management. Moreover, the deployment of MIMO technology will improve the speed and capacity, while the installation of small cells will enable improvement of operator’s macro network and offer better coverage and capacity in both indoors and outdoors.

Implementation of 4G services across the nation:

Market players have realized the importance of deployment of 4G services and taking necessary steps to extend the coverage across the country. Nepal Telecom (Ntc) began the installation of 4G LTE towers across the nation. The tower survey has been completed and equipment has been arrived from China. The establishment of base stations for 4G LTE service has begun. Ntc has not been able to expand its network to places beyond Pokhara and Kathmandu. Ntc signed a deal of Rs. 18 billion for the entire 4G LTE project to offer 4G services across the country. There are three projects including Core, Network 1, and Network 2 under this huge project. Chinese Vendor ZTE offers the Core equipment, however, both the Network 1 & 2 are supplied by CCSI, Hong Kong. The installation of Core has been completed and testes have been carried out. To begin the 4G implementation on commercial level, the company needs to install hardware equipment and carry out tests to make sure the performance standards are met.

Bharti Airtel, one of the leading telecom operators in India, highlighted its plans to close 3G network across the country by the end of 2019. The firm has closed its 3G network in Kolkata and would close in six to seven zones by September. Gopal Vittal, the CEO of Bharti Airtel, outlined that the company would aim for freeing up two to three chunks of 3G spectrum in every circle. This enables the company to improve the capacity of 4G network by nearly 20%. Vittal also highlighted that this replacement would save money as there would be low annual maintenance costs for its network partners. Moreover, the addition of new spectrum would enhance customer experience of 4G service. Currently, the network utilizes the bands between the spectrum of 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz for offering 4G services. The firm has deployed more or less all the spectrum it can with the increase in number of customers. An additional capacity can be developed with splitting of existing cells into smaller ones or addition of spectrum from other bands. The company ensured the customers would not suffer any inconvenience due to shut down of 3G services.

Pratik Kirve is writer, blogger, and sport enthusiast. He holds a bachelor degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering and currently working as a Content Writer at Allied Analytics LLP. He has avid interest in writing news articles across different verticals. When he is not following updates and trends, he spends his time reading, writing poetry, and playing football.