MTN to deploy 4G services in 900MHz band

MTN South Africa has commercially deployed Huawei’s CloudAIR 2.0 solution to share spectrum between 2G, 3G, 4G and NB-IoT technologies in the 900MHz band, claiming the deployment is a ‘global first’. Huawei’s CloudAIR 2.0 solution enables MTN SA to make more efficient use of its limited 900MHz spectrum allocation in order to achieve a 45% increase in LTE throughput within the band. Giovanni Chiarelli, Chief Technology and Information Officer for MTN SA, said: ‘Spectrum is an extremely precious asset. This new network optimisation technique improves spectral efficiency and gives MTN the ability to deploy LTE within the same 900MHz band, alongside GSM, UMTS and NB-IoT, while significantly improving LTE coverage and user experience.’