Singtel today announced nation wide deployment of a 450Mbps 4G LTE-Advanced(LTE-A) service that will be initially supported on Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. The service is available to all Singtel 4G customers at no additional charge.
LG V20 users will also be able to harness the higher speeds with a soon-to-be released software update. More compatible smartphone models are expected to be launched by early 2017.
Singtel claims that the new service delivers up to 50% faster download speeds than prevailing LTE services, this enhanced peak speed will allow customers to download a full length HD movie in less than two minutes over mobile data.
This speed enhancement is made possible by Singtel’s nationwide LTE network upgrade to support 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation). A pre-5G technology, 256 QAM increases the number of unique radio waveform shapes to carry up to 33.33% higher data and elevates spectral efficiency, said Singtel.
Singtel and Ericsson have also demonstrated download speeds of up to 1Gbps in a live 4G network pilot at two sites in Pasir Ris. This ultra-fast download speed was achieved by deploying 256 QAM downlink, 4x4 Multiple Input Multiple Output (4x4 MIMO) and triple carrier aggregation technologies. 4x4 MIMO doubles the number of data paths between a cellular base station and mobile phones, delivering a speed boost of up to two times normal speeds.
Singtel will progressively rollout 4x4 MIMO technology on its network starting next year to deliver up to 1Gbps speeds at selected high-traffic locations. Supporting mobile devices are expected to be ready by end 2017.
Yuen Kuan Moon, CEP, Consumer Siangapore, Singtel
With more customers consuming and sharing mobile videos, 450Mbps speeds will enable them to download movies in a flash and give them a better entertainment experience while on the go.
Martin Wiktorin, Country Manager of Ericsson Singapore and Brunei
As user expectations for high speed internet and the ability to use apps on the move increase, network innovations with new advanced technologies are required to enable superior network performance.
