Algar Telecom combined the 700 MHz and 1800 MHz bands to activate LTE-A in Uberlândia, city of Minas Gerais. The company promised speeds three times higher than those offered with traditional 4G although it recognized that the real speed will depend on factors such as the proximity of the antennas and the number of people connected to the same site, among others.
The company had tested this technology in Uberlândia in September , following an agreement reached with Nokia. The city is usually used by the operator for its launches: it recently inaugurated a digital innovation center and was also one of the two sites chosen for its LTE launch .
In the first quarter of this year the company completed the refarming of 1800 MHz , previously used for 2G and now for 4G. Half of the spectrum available in that band went to fourth generation services and is the one that the firm now uses to offer LTE-A, local portal TeleSintese said.
73% of the base of Algar Telecom, composed of 1.32 million users according to data from the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) at the end of September, uses 4G. Meanwhile, the company already covers 3G with all the municipalities where it has a presence, which are 87 in Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul.