Czech cellco T-Mobile CR has published an update on the rollout of its 4G LTE network, noting that in 2015 it significantly expanded its coverage thanks to the deployment of 2,000 new transmitters across the country. By the start of this year, the Deutsche Telekom-owned unit had around 3,700 cell sites in operation covering 82% of the population in 2,300 locations, including all major and regional cities, plus all highways and popular tourist/recreation areas. At the same date, combined 3G/4G coverage stood at 96% of Czech inhabitants. T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Vladimir Klein says that the network expansion will continue this year, adding that: ‘By the end of 2016 we plan to extend LTE coverage to almost the entire population of the Czech Republic.’
T-Mobile CR’s ultra-high speed rollout programme is being augmented by the rollout of LTE-A technology. Last month, TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate reported the network operator as saying that it had successfully boosted peak theoretical data speeds to 375Mbps/50Mbps (down/uplink) on its LTE-A platform. The cellco is using tri-band carrier aggregation (3C) technology to achieve the ultra-fast data transmission speeds, amalgamating a 1×10MHz block of spectrum in the 800MHz band with 20MHz blocks in each of the 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands. Initially only available in two locations – its Prague headquarters and in the municipality of Jiloviste (Prague-West District) – 3C LTE-A is supported by the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ smartphone, with other devices expected to come on-stream in the coming weeks and months. T-Mobile CR was the first Czech operator to launch LTE-A, and the first to combine two bands at the end of June 2014, when it introduced carrier aggregation in the area of Mlada Boleslav to increase maximum speeds to up to 225Mbps/50Mbps.
