South African mobile operator 8ta has been boosted by American telecommunications giant AT&T’s choice to use the same frequency for their expansion.
The US Federal Communication Commission has granted AT&T permission to become the owners of a key frequency band as it moves towards rolling out Long Term Evolution (LTE)/4G wireless broadband network across the United States.
This new expansion is in addition to the list of bands they have access to, including spectrum of 2.3GHz, which is exactly the frequency Telkom’s 8ta has been occupying for the national broadband network with LTE..
Although currently last on the list of mobile operators in South Africa, the move of stationing on the 60MHz frequency in the 2.3GHz band has put 8ta a step ahead of MTN, Vodacom and Cell C. These networks had to relocate to the leftovers of the limited spectrum for LTE/4G networks.
Chinese and Indian international operators are also interested in the 2.3GHz band due to the large populations (collectively 2.5 billion) they are catering for.
AT&T eyes the frequency with the goal in mind to increase the support of 4G/LTE among great trademarks in handset manufacturing. This is also exciting news for 8ta, as more mobile devices will be available to their subscribers.
8ta uses the FD-LTE alternative for running their 4G network, also the choice of European and North American operators.
8ta is working on the launch of commercial LTE services which will take place next year.
