Telecom operator Aircel is planning to launch mass market 4G LTE services by December this year, reports ET. The operator has 20 MHz spectrum in 2300 MHz (4G) band in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and parts of the North East and Jammu & Kashmir. It launched commercial 4G services in 6 of its 8 enterprise circles, where it said it had a large customer base. Aircel became the second operator after Airtel to launch 4G services in the country in July last year, after it offered the services in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Odisha. Aircel had secured 4G spectrum in eight circles, during the BWA auctions in June 2010. After postponing its 4G rollout to 2014 from 2013, Aircel had appointed ZTE Corporation for pan-India deployment of its 4G LTE network in January last year. In February this year, Aircel and Tata Teleservices were disqualified from bidding for new spectrum as they showed negative net worth of Rs 6,668.61 crore and Rs 7,192.60 crore respectively. Aircel was disqualified in bidding in bands where it did not have spectrum. The auction rules stated that an operator bidding for new waves or service area should have a minimum net worth of Rs 100 crore, which both Tata Teleservices and Aircel did not have. Competition: – Last month, we reported that Vodafone India would launch its 4G services by the end of this year, starting with Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi and Kochi in the first part of the…
