Optus, a subsidiary of Singtel in partnership with Huawei has conducted a live trial of the 4.5G technology at Optus’ Gigasite in Newcastle, north of Sydney, achieving 1.23Gbps in download speed over the air in live network conditions.
The trial which combined Carrier Aggregation, Higher Level Modulation and 4X4 MIMO was capable of hitting maximum download theoritical speed of 1.43Gbps, said Optus in a statement.
The continued work on 4.5G, evolving towards 5G technology leverages the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on joint R&D that parent telco Singtel signed with Huawei in 2014, said Optus.
Dennis Wong, Optus Networks acting Managing Director
We continue to utilise our network and spectrum assets to test our network of the future and prepare for 5G. By 2020, 5G will be here and we are committed to identify ways to prepare our network to support this new technology and further improve customer experience.
James Zhao, Huawei Australia CEO
This field trial in Newcastle is a first and important milestone as a direct result of our local investments in R&D here in Australia. This joint trial represents a significant advance toward fulfilling Huawei’s & Optus’ commitment to developing 4.5G technology in Australia.
Tay Soo Meng, Singtel Group Chief Technology Officer
As we work towards 5G we expect significant demand for cost-effective connection to a multitude of sensors and devices, and it is important that operators deliver new capabilities to enable the new connected ecosystem to support the growth and innovation of M2M services. Singtel continues to pursue leading technologies and is in close collaboration with industry players like Huawei as part of our 5G partnership programs.
