Mobitel trials 4.5G another first in South Asia

Monday, 20 June 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, on Saturday announced that it has successfully trialed 4.5G LTE-Advanced Pro Technology which is capable of achieving speeds exceeding 1 Gbps.

Having launched the first Super-3.5G HSPA network in South Asia in December 2007, and subsequently trialed HSPA+, MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) in 2009, another first in the region Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel went on to demonstrate 4G-LTE technology also for the first time in South Asia in 2011.

Keeping ahead with pioneering new technologies, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel has now trialed 4.5G LTE-Advanced Technology yet again for the first time in South Asia.

The prime factor behind the super-fast speeds demonstrated in 4.5G LTE-Advanced Pro technology is the use of multiple carriers of spectrum to generate an aggregated spectrum block to deliver significant throughputs for end-users. The use of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) with higher order carrier modulation in LTE-Advanced allows easy upward scalability for higher bandwidth requirements, coupled with MIMO technology, which effectively uses multiple antennae in both the Terminal Device and radio network to transmit and receive multiple streams of information within the same spectrum. 4.5G Technology is claimed to bridge the gap between 4G Technology and 5G Technology, where 5G Technology is expected to be commercially available in 2020.

4.5G LTE-Advanced Pro Technology is capable of utilizing a combination of 4x4 MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) ; Higher Order Modulation 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and up to 5CC (five-component carrier) to provide Gigabit speeds for end users. Mobitel partnered with Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation in conducting 4.5G LTE-Advanced Pro tests in Mobitel’s test lab. With this trial Mobitel joins the ranks of international giants like Vodafone, AT&T, Softbank, Telstra, Orange, China Mobile etc. in its commitment for LTE as the future technology.

Having successfully tested the 4.5G LTE-Advanced Pro Technology, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel is looking forward to commercially deploy the 4.5G services to the nation for further strengthening the evolving ICT industry.

In particular, a factor which distinguishes 4.5G LTE-Advanced Pro from other technologies is the improved quality of experience, due to reduction in latency. This enhances the user experience of time-critical applications such as Voice, Video and on-line gaming while extending potential benefits to businesses as well as Finance sector, by significantly reducing time taken on data transport for time critical transactions such as on-line trading and other financial transactions.

Investments committed to date in the 4G/3G/2G networks and service offering by Mobitel amounts to over $600 million.