November 13 (SeeNews) - Telecommunications company A1 Bulgaria, the local unit of A1 Telekom Austria group, said that it will implement carrier aggregation, also known as 4.5G, accross the entire country by the end of 2018.
These improvements in the company's network will allow for a swift upgrade to 5G in the future, A1 Bulgaria, recently renamed from Mobiltel, said in a statement on Monday.
Since the start of 4G in 2016, the company has invested over 170 million levs ($97.6 million/86.9 million euro) and is constantly modernising and expanding its network, it said. A1 Bulgaria has also posted a 260% increase in network traffic since 2016, over 60% of which through 4G.
A1 Bulgaria's 4G network covers all towns and cities in the country with a population of over 1,000 people, according to the company.
A1 Bulgaria, which used to operate under the Mtel brand, was renamed and rebranded in May, in line with a decision of its parent - Telekom Austria Group, to roll out its A1 brand across all of the group's operations.
In Bulgaria, A1 competes with the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), which operates under the brand name Vivacom, Telenor Bulgaria - a unit of Czech Republic-based investment group PPF, and local Max Telecom, which was set up by the founder of Mobiltel.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)