Aircel rolls out 4G services in Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir

Aircel has launched 4G services in Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir, becoming the only private telecom operator to offer all the three existing technologies of 2G, 3G and 4G in these markets.

"We are delighted to now bring highest speed 4G LTE (long term evaluation) services to Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir.

"This launch comes within a month of our recent 4G LTE deployment in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Odisha," Aircel, chief marketing officer Anupam Vasudev said in a statement.

Aircel is the second company in India, after Airtel, to launch 4G services using LTE technology. Aircel holds 20 MHz of spectrum in the 2,300 MHz band, called broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, across eight circles-Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and North East and Jammu & Kashmir.

Aircel now is left with two service areas - West Bengal and North East - where it has to start services using BWA spectrum.

The licensee will have to ensure that at least half the areas under rural telecom exchanges get the required street level coverage.