Bouygues Telecom reassigns 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz spectrum to boost LTE capacity

Bouygues Telecom has posted on its blog an update on its spectrum refarming strategy, which is enabling the operator to add LTE capacity in urban areas and roll-out LTE-A upgrades using carrier aggregation. Among the key changes, Bouygues is in the process of reassigning 5 MHz of its 1800 MHz band spectrum from 2G to LTE services, which as a result will have an allocation of 20 MHz, compared to 15 MHz previously. This has already been achieved in around 20 of the 35 French metropolitan areas included in the scope of the project.

In mid-2017, Bouygues Telecom was allowed by telecom regulator Arcep to use its 2100 MHz band spectrum for LTE services. The operator plans to reassign 10 out of its 15 MHz holding to LTE, with the remaining 5 MHz remaining allocated to 3G. In early February, spectrum agency ANFR reported that 1,432 LTE cell sites were authorised in the 2100 MHz band across all four network operators, of which 1,159 by Bouygues Telecom.