Airtel defends its 4G network, ready to work with UCC to resolve dispute

Additional reporting by Rukia Nabbanja

Airtel Uganda has refuted charges by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) that called into question its 4G network in some parts of the country.

UCC is reportedly investigating Airtel over several customers challenging the presence of its 4G network. The accusations state that the purported 4G speeds as advertised by the telecom giant are not as fast. Airtel was given 14 days from July 22 to respond.

Airtel Uganda Managing Director VG Somasekhar says the charges are unfair based on a misunderstanding. While pledging to coperate with the regulatory body, VG Somasekhar said that, “The public just needs to be educated on the matter of how they can fully access the 4G network.”

While addressing the media in a press conference today, Mr. Somasekhar said that all one needs is to have a 4G smart phone, 4G Airtel line, the appropriate settings on their smartphone and lastly put the Airtel line in the first slot of the phone in a case of a dual simcard.

The company also unveiled its plans of installing more 200 Airtel sites all over the country.

“These are expected to increase the public experience as they use airtel services in areas where they have no full coverage,” Somasekhar explained.

Airtel Uganda Managing Director VG Somasekhar said these changes include...

1. Introducing 4 by 4 MIMO for the first time in Uganda. This is essentially 4 streams of data for transmission and receiving pathways which means MIMO has greatly enhanced 4G speeds of data. 

2. Carrier Aggregation which is a technology that combines two or more carriers into one data channel to enhance the data capacity. Carrier Aggregation has been used for the spectrum efficiency and speed so users can experience incredibly faster download and upload speeds that bring with them high resolution videos that can stream with minimum buffering. 

3. Spectrum reframing which refers to recovery of a part of spectrum from one technology for use by another technology without impacting the services of the donor technology. This has ensured an optimized mix to serve both voice quality and improve data speeds. 

4. Fiber expansion which is a transmission technology that uses light to transmit data. This technology provides data speeds in excess of 1Gbps which improves speed and latency of data speeds. 

 

More of the new transformative technology that will be employed to modernize the 4G LTE network and improve on the consumers experience.