Aircel is busy conducting 4G trials in its Andhra Pradesh circle, obviously in a bid to have its foot in the door before it’s too late. One of India’s biggest players, Airtel, has already been offering 4G services in Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata and Chandigarh for quite some time.
And just recently, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) was seen waving about a unified license which throws up a significant point – it can roll out 4G services in 22 circles across the country. One major network operator which seems to be missing from the list is Vodafone. But we’re assuming it’ll do everything it can to get there sooner than later.
Now as The Economic Times reports, Aircel has begun testing its 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) services in Andhra Pradesh. But the company isn’t ready to launch the network in the near future. Aircel’s Deepinder Tiwana has noted that the hardware available in the market still has to catch up since 4G-capable smartphones are hard to come by.
The network operator has disclosed a 100% growth in revenue since 2012. Its success apparently rides on the back of increase in data consumption. Roughly 44% of Aircel’s 1.8 million customers in Andhra Pradesh are said to use data services. Out of this, 12% accounts for 3G. The company is expected to concentrate on offering tempting schemes on voice and data for the present.
The Chennai-based brand was acquired by Malaysia’s Maxis Communication Berhard in 2006 and has won 3G licenses/spectrum in 13 Indian states. Well, things certainly seem to be looking up for the company which had been facing losses of Rs 250 crores per annum until last year.