Azercell: 2017 – year of 4G in Azerbaijan regions
obile communication has led development of cellular networks to a completely new level. Today, while the development of 3G networks in our country is still ongoing, operators are also working to improve their 4G networks. The term LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. LTE networks are based on IP- technologies and differ from the standard 3G in high speed of data transfer. From technical point of view, major difference between 4G and 3G networks is that the former is fully based on package data protocols, while 3G networks include both package and channel commutation. The main point in LTE networks, as well as in 3G, is a coding technology and OFDM-MIMO data transmission. OFDM technology determines the direction of the signal from the base station to the mobile phone. In order to ensure LTE communication meets network requirements, availability of only OFDM technology is not sufficient. It is necessary to have SC-FDMA which is used to reverse signals, from the telephone to the base station. An expensive highprofile transmitter is required for high-quality transmission of such signals.
The first and largest LTE (4G) network in Azerbaijan is owned by Azercell. The company has a great sense for the growing demand for high-speed mobile internet, and therefore, Azercell specialists installed 220 new LTE-stations in Baku and Absheron peninsula only in the first half of 2016. Now, the total number of 4G stations in the mentioned area has reached 480, while 4G coverage rate was 79%. Subscribers using the service were able to use the internet at speeds up to 100 Mbit / s. Georgios Chatzis, Head of Retail Businesses Department and Khaver Babazade, Head of Technology Department at Azercell, discussed additional benefits of new technologies to consumers and further development of 4G network by the company. in Baku and Absheron peninsula. And based on comments we have received so far, we can conclude with confidence that the development of network is going in the right direction, which enables us to think carefully about the future opportunities. The next task is the expansion of 4G coverage. In particular, we plan to introduce the new standard in large regional centers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, such as Sumgait, Ganja, Guba, Gabala, Lankaran, etc. in 2017. Introduction of 4G network in the regions will also serve to reduce the "digital inequality" between the capital city and regional centers.
Khaver Babazade: - During the development of the network, we are mainly focused on the level of demand of the subscribers for the new format. In the case of expansion of the 4G network in the regions, it will be factors such as the level of use of 3G services and the capacity of the existing telecommunications infrastructure in the region. First of all, the new standard will appear in the regions and cities where there is no well-developed fixed-line communication and people are experiencing an acute shortage for high-quality data traffic and related services. choose the hardware vendor or supplier based on Azercell’s desire to bring the best to the country. The project is planned to commence early 2017 so that subscribers receive quality services at a level corresponding to the Azercell’s reputation throughout the year.
I’d also like to note that according to a study on assessment of the quality of mobile networks conducted by Global Wireless Solutions at the invitation of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Azercell network demonstrates the best results among all mobile operators in many aspects in the country. According to the study of international companies such as Opensignal and Testmy.net, dealing with the quality of radio signals for network diagnostics, the best quality and reliable mobile network and the fastest mobile internet in Azerbaijan is provided by Azercell.
As for your second question, we use the function, when the subscriber switches to 3G network on receiving a call and continues to chat there. Tests in this technology show that 99% of such shifts are carried out without any problems and communication takes place without any problems. Also, according to the statistics collected in the system, the percentage is also very good. and Facebook, especially from the point with the concentration of people, where we were previously instructed to install additional mobile base stations to expand the network bandwidth. And 4G network was running smoothly in all of these areas. As an example, I can note that during the Formula 1 races in Baku the average download speed of Azercell’s 4G network reached 42 Mbit /s, which is quite a good indicator.