Vodafone UK, this week began the roll-out of LTE Advanced network to help boost customers’ existing 4G mobile service by allowing more users to experience ultra-fast speeds. Vodafone is rolling out the LTE-A from this month in Birmingham, Manchester and London and to other UK cities during the rest of this year and 2015. The deployments are part of Vodafone UK's £1 billion Capex on network and services.
The roll out of the LTE-A is enabled by the Carrier Aggregation technology which enables theoretical peak speeds of up to three times greater than existing 4G speeds based on the 800MHz band. Vodafone UK said that Carrier Aggregation works better on 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrums the company has at present and is supported by a vast majority of latest 4G smartphones. In addition, the low frequency 800MHz spectrum travels further and penetrates better through walls to provide better indoor coverage and extended reach.
According to Vodafone, its research showed that customers value a consistent, high-speed 4G service in-building as much as they do when they are outdoors. The finding showed customers are increasingly streaming videos, emailing, accessing the web, as well as making and receiving calls from lunchtime through to early evening from their desks or sofas, necessitating higher speeds and better quality of service on in-door mobile usage.
This clever technology is the next big step to deliver faster speeds per user and to increase the capacity so more customers can enjoy a great 4G experience when and where they want it.
- Vodafone UK Technology Director, Fergal Kelly
By Andrew Dunn/Wikimedia Commons
