Aircel may soon launch its 4G services in Tamil Nadu. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given the go-ahead to telecom operator Aircel to launch it 4G services in Tamil Nadu Circle.
 
Earlier Aircel and Huawei had successfully conducted GSM/UMTS/LTE-TDD trial in this circle. The company aims to offer data speeds of 65 Mbps during the initial phase.
 
In January, Aircel sought DoT’s permission to launch the services after successfully completing trials. The department has given go ahead with certain conditions that include providing lawful interception of data to the Law Enforcement Agencies.
 
Aircel had bided for eight circles across the country in auction concluded in 2010. The company had won spectrum in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North-East and Jammu & Kashmir at a total auction price of Rs. 3,438 crores.

                                   
 
Aircel and all other BWA Licensees have to full fill rollout obligations depending on the service area license. As per license conditions a licensees should provide street level coverage in at least 90% of the metro service areas and at least 50% of the rural short distance changing areas (SDCAs) by mid-2015.
 
If operators fails to do so the BWA spectrum provided will be withdrawn. At present Airtel is the only telecom operator which has launched 4G service in India, offering the service in four telecom circle Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Punjab.