A1 significantly expands network capacity in rural areas | News | About company

A1 significantly expands network capacity in rural areas

Private Customers / About Company

In parallel with active work to improve the operation of its 4G network during 2024, A1 continues to improve the quality of 3G mobile communications. Another measure taken to achieve this was a new stage to deploy a second frequency channel in the 900 MHz range, doubling the capacity, as well as improving network availability and data transfer speed. Thus, the company continues to strengthen its leading position with regard to the quality of cellular mobile telecommunications services for most integral indicators based on the aggregate observations, which is confirmed by the Republican Unitary Enterprise for Supervision on Telecommunications "BelGIE", an independent mobile communications regulator, as of May 29, 2024.

 

Today A1 is the only mobile operator in Belarus that has the practical ability to use a second UMTS channel in the 900 MHz range in the third-generation network. The deployment of an additional channel in the said range covered the territory of the Minsk and Mogilev regions of Belarus. By the end of 2024, the A1 company plans to implement similar work in the Gomel region, as well as along all major highways (marked with "M"). Work in other regions is planned for 2025.

 

Better coverage in areas outside of large populated areas will be ensured by an additional radio frequency channel in the UMTS-900 range. Important advantages of the 900 MHz frequency range, which make it optimal for rural areas, are a large coverage area and less signal attenuation compared to the 2,100 MHz range, as well as high penetrating ability, such as in difficult landscape conditions. The launch of the second carrier frequency allows doubling the capacity and availability of the existing A1 network in this range, as well as significant increase in the data transfer speed.

 

Currently, А1 is actively involved in development and improvement of the network for both standards in parallel: 3G and 4G. Thus, the company's subscribers have the opportunity to use the highest quality mobile communication services throughout the country, regardless of the network type and settings of their devices.

 

The company hereby reminds you that the most advanced cellular communication standard among those operating in Belarus is currently the 4G (LTE) Standard. Earlier this year, A1 has implemented a project to improve the quality of 4G network throughout Belarus. The activities undertaken in partnership with infrastructure operator beCloud have ensured that the fourth-generation communication operates reliably throughout the country on the A1 network, making the network accessible to 99.8% of the population. Significant improvement in the quality of A1's 4G connection has been achieved due to a number of measures to make more efficient use of already available resources: parametric optimization, traffic prioritization, and user traffic balancing. Thus, in 2023 and 2024 all district centers and regional cities could notice a significant improvement of A1's 4G network performance. At the same time, the fourth generation network is available to A1 subscribers not only in large cities, but also in sparsely populated areas, rural areas and along the country's highways. Nowadays, A1's 4G network includes more than 6,000 base stations operating at 800, 1,800, and 2,600 MHz.

 

To start using 4G and enjoy all the quality connection benefits, you need:

  1. enable 4G (LTE) in your phone settings. When choosing this mode, the mobile device will select 4G as the priority network, it will be able to automatically temporarily switch to 3G, if necessary;
  2. enable VoLTE mode in the settings to ensure better quality of voice calls;
  3. make sure that your SIM card supports LTE (if necessary, replace the SIM with USIM or eSIM);
  4. make sure that the phone supports LTE (change the phone if necessary).

 

Check if your device and SIM card are ready for 4G network using USSD request: *181# call. You can find out more about the coverage area and the average speed of A1's 4G network on A1's official website at the link, as well as in My A1 app. You can read about the features and advantages of the 4G Communication Standard on the special web-page by clicking the link as well.