4G LTE to play a crucial role in ‘Digital India’: Ericsson India

NEW DELHI: 4G LTE will play a crucial role in Digital India initiative of the government as it can be used for high-bandwidth communication like video streaming as well as for not do demanding communication application, says Derek Long, Principle Consultant LTE, Ericsson India.

He says that as Digital India project of the Narendra Modi government is all about providing connectivity, 4G LTE will be a key for the project, however, a mass market for 4G LTE two-three years down the line looks too ambitious.

Long adds that operators will initially launch 4G LTE services in areas where they are sure to get early pay backs, particularly metros, where there is massive use of technology and outside that, the rollout would probably take time.

“The response so far for 4G LTE was a little hesitant. 4G was on the agenda since 2012 and initially there were challenges with LTE because of terminal availability, operators’ confidence in terms of pricing and billing but now things are changing,” he told Voice&Data.

In the recent spectrum auctions also, we saw a huge interest for 1800 mhz bandwidth which is the mainstream band for LTE globally, so we expect the whole momentum in LTE space will change.

Talking about operators particularly, he mentioned that “Airtel have done technical service in a number of circles but they have not actively marketed it but I am sure they will do so. I think a lot of people are also waiting to see what happens with RJio when they launch its services as it’s been five years now they have acquired the licenses.”

Ericsson is coming out with lots of innovation to maximum the usage of 4G technology. It is developing technology for small cells, carrier regulations, base stations, among others.

The company is hugely investing in R&D in India, whether its radio functionality design, backhaul, billing and analytics.