Displaying items by tag: spectrum

As TELUS continues to expand its next-generation 5G network across the country, UK-based Opensignal has announced that TELUS is the fastest network in the world.

TELUS has been recognized as the “global winner” for average download speeds, according to OpenSignal’s new Global Mobile Network Experience report. “Excellent download speeds appear to be a Canadian specialty, with TELUS being the only global winner with a score of 75.8 Mbps and its closest rival being its Canadian counterpart, Bell,” the report read.

“This global recognition from Opensignal, in concert with our rapidly expanding next-generation 5G network, reinforces the TELUS team’s unparalleled commitment to providing Canadians with access to superior technology that connects us to the people, resources and information that make our lives better,” said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO, TELUS.

“Our team understands that having the fastest speeds on a global basis matters as it drives the innovation that enables the diversity and competitiveness of our country’s private sector, supporting economic growth and job creation for our nation. It matters because it helps us answer society’s most pressing social challenges in health, education, agriculture and the environment, while improving economic equality in our digital world. As we continue to navigate the global health emergency, Canadians can be confident that our world-leading network, with its globally leading speed and expansive coverage, will keep them connected to what matters most.”

In Opensignal’s latest report, TELUS’ average 4G LTE download speeds were recorded at a global high of 75.8 mbps, which is significantly faster than South Korea’s average of 59 mbps on their 5G networks - a country that launched 5G nationally in 2019. 

“Canada and South Korea were statistically tied for the highest global average download speeds seen by our users. So it is perhaps not surprising that the global winner and four of the world leaders for this measure come from these two countries,” the report notes.

In addition, the report found that TELUS is also a high-performing global player when it comes to video experience and download speed experience. “Canada’s TELUS was ranked as one of the world’s top video operators and had the highest video experience of any North American operator we reviewed,” the report says.

“TELUS’ scores beat all other national operators in the region on four of the five measures of mobile network experience: video experience, voice app experience, download speed experience and mobile network experience”, underlines the report.

OpenSignal notes that despite the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, many operators have been able to significantly improve the mobile network experience of their users.

Nokia has announced it has partnered with Vivo to provide private wireless services for Vale’s Carajás mine in Brazil.

The service will be part of an Industry 4.0 project by Vale to deploy autonomous drill platforms and trucks. The project will increase productivity at the mine and improve worker safety. The network will be also used for mine-wide communications between workers. Vale plans to expand the technology to other mines currently using older WiMax solutions.

Nokia is currently working with several mining operators worldwide to deploy private wireless networks based on LTE, with plans to migrate to 5G in the future.

Autonomous ore trucks have been shown to increase productivity by 15% and reduce fuel and maintenance costs by 10%. Nokia’s LTE and 5G, being mobile technologies, provide more reliable support than WiMax or Wi-Fi for operating and controlling trucks and drills on the move.

Nokia’s private industrial-grade wireless solutions are enabling many new applications in the mining field, including support for environmental monitoring, video-assisted remote operations and improved worker monitoring and safety. Nokia is partnering with key solution providers in the mining industry, including Komatsu and Sandvik.

Vale is also currently operating 13 autonomous trucks on a WiMax network at its Brucutu mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, with the intention to also replace it with a private LTE network for improved performance and reliability. Other applications being considered include an IoT application connecting dam monitoring instruments using LTE.

The advantage of LTE is its ability to adjust performance characteristics to each individual application and to provide a single mine-wide wireless platform that can support any kind of critical communication requirement.

Gustavo Vieira, CIO of Vale, said, “This new generation of wireless technology — LTE and, eventually, 5G — is enabling us to explore many new applications and use cases for remote and autonomous operations. This will help to make our mining operations more efficient, sustainable and safe for our workers.”

Alex Salgado, Vivo’s B2B Vice-President, said, “The private wireless service we are implementing at Vale’s Carajás mine is one of many deployments that we expect to see in the next few years. Forward-thinking customers such as Vale are embracing Industry 4.0 technologies, fostering digital solutions at the heart of their businesses, whether in agriculture, transportation or mining. We are excited to be leading this transformation.”

Luiz Tonisi, Head of Market Unit Brazil at Nokia, said, “Nokia is making a lot of impact in the mining sector right now, and this project with Vale is a very important beginning here in Brazil. Our industrial-grade private LTE wireless solution is ideal for supporting the industry’s embrace of autonomous technologies. It solves a lot of issues that past wireless technologies have struggled with and opens the way for many new and exciting use cases for mines of the future.”

Ericsson has announced that its unique dynamic spectrum sharing solution is commercially available, allowing communications service providers to quickly and cost-effectively launch 5G on a nationwide scale.

Ericsson Spectrum Sharing enables both 4G and 5G to be deployed in the same band and on the same radio through a software upgrade and dynamically allocates spectrum based on user demand on a 1 millisecond basis. Ericsson’s dynamic spectrum sharing is the most economically feasible way to deploy 5G on existing bands – enabling wide 5G coverage from day one – making more efficient use of spectrum and enabling superior user performance.

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson, said, “For the first time, our customers do not have to re-farm spectrum before deploying a new ‘G’ and can quickly get 5G on the same footprint as they have with 4G today. In the next 12 months, more than 80 percent of the commercial 5G networks we support will use our spectrum sharing solution to achieve broad 5G coverage.”
“Spectrum is a scarce and costly resource that should be used efficiently. Ericsson Spectrum Sharing will mean that service providers can rapidly roll out 5G on their FDD bands without the need to re-invest. It means they can use both their new and existing bands for 5G high-speed, high-capacity services. Dynamically allocating spectrum between 4G and 5G is going to be the best way to start deploying 5G,” said Julian Bright, Senior Analyst, Ovum/Omdia.

ESS live with multiple service providers

Swisscom

With Ericsson as its sole mobile network vendor and strategic partner, Swisscom was the first communications service provider in Europe to launch commercial 5G services in April 2019. In December 2019, Swisscom achieved nationwide 5G coverage and is upgrading their network with Ericsson Spectrum Sharing.

Christoph Aeschlimann, Head of IT, Network & Infrastructure Group division, Swisscom, says: "ESS is key for a fast adoption of 5G. It's a win-win approach for customers and operators. Customers benefit from 5G in no time and operators use their precious spectrum in a most efficient manner. We are proud of being part of the ESS journey from the very beginning. In the meantime, we already reached a nationwide coverage with 90 percent of the population with 5G."

Telstra

In May 2019, Telstra launched its commercial 5G network in Australia and has now rolled out 5G coverage in 32 metropolitan and regional cities around the country with the help of Ericsson, its key 5G network partner. 

“Ericsson Spectrum Sharing will continue to play a crucial role in helping Telstra pave the way for a faster rollout of 5G, allowing us to serve the needs of 4G and 5G customers in the same location at the same time. These milestones are especially important for Telstra and the Australian landscape, where expanding 5G coverage over wide areas quickly and efficiently are key to providing more Australians with access to 5G services,” said Channa Seneviratne, Network and Engineering Infrastructure Executive, Telstra.  

Ooredoo Qatar

After going commercially live with 5G on 3.5 GHz band in Doha, Ooredoo is taking the next step to make its ‘Supernet’ fully 5G-enabled across the country with Ericsson Spectrum Sharing.

Waleed Al Sayed, Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, said, “As we take the next leap into being connected, Ericsson Spectrum Sharing comes as a unique innovation that dynamically shares spectrum between 4G and 5G carriers based on traffic demand. This enables us, as mobile operators, to use our spectrum assets efficiently by driving 5G-wide coverage roll-out quickly, smoothly and cost efficiently. This will help us achieve our strategic objectives, enabling us to enhance our customers’ internet experience and enrich their digital lives.”

Play

Polish service provider, Play, has deployed Ericsson Spectrum Sharing on its commercial network.

Jean Marc Harion, CEO of Play, says: "The 5G network in Legionowo is yet another proof of Play’s technological advancement in 5G and an important milestone in our strategy to continuously expand and modernize our network. With Ericsson Spectrum Sharing, we are taking a significant step towards being ready for commercial introduction of 5G when the devices become available.”

ESS ecosystem

Ericsson Spectrum Sharing software can run on any of the five million 5G-ready radios Ericsson has shipped since 2015. Ericsson has been collaborating with ecosystem chipset partners including Qualcomm Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, on advancing dynamic spectrum sharing using mobile devices powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 865 and 765 Mobile Platforms with Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems, and MediaTek (Dimensity 1000) as well as key device makers like Oppo, Sony, Xiaomi, LG, vivo and WNC (Wistron NeWeb Corp.) to scale the solution globally.

A special report by Telecom Review 5G technical investigative team

As many operators around the globe have or are preparing to deploy and launch 5G networks and devices, the 3.5 GHz band has emerged as the de-facto band for most deployments, which has created economies of scale for devices and network equipment.

3 UK has expressed their scepticism over Ofcom’s plans to address poor rural coverage in the United Kingdom, highlighting that the costs of the proposal were too excessive and overall the initiative lacked ambition.

3 UK’s Chief Operating Officer, Graham Baxter has called for the regulator to ditch their plans and work collectively with all UK operators in an effort to find a lasting solution to the ongoing problems experienced by users in rural parts of the UK.

Baxter blasted their plans to remove partial hot-spots in the UK’s countryside, areas which are not covered by any of the country’s four major operators.

As a way to incentivise investment, Ofcom in 2018 said it planned to offer mobile operators a discount in a spectrum auction planned for 2020, if they make binding coverage commitments.

Ofcom said two operators could receive discounts of up to £400 million on the cost of spectrum licences by committing to meet three targets within four years; providing good outdoor data coverage to at least 90 per cent of the UK’s land mass; improve mobile coverage for 140,000 buildings; and install 500 new masts in rural areas.

However, Baxter has criticized the plan for lacking ambition, while also hitting out at the expense incurred by the operator to execute the program.

Instead, he said the regulator should push an initiative for a single rural network, which would see the country’s operators jointly invest in a shared infrastructure.

In addition, he urged authorities to relax planning permission rules for taller mobile masts in rural areas of the country.

In addition to this, Baxter also argued that Ofcom’s plan would only benefit two mobile operators, but conceded that a single network would be beneficial for all four of the country’s operators with regards to coverage.

US telecommunications operator Sprint has achieved a 5G milestone following a pilot trial in the sun-kissed city of San Diego.

Sprint, which is owned by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank announced that it had completed a successful 5G OTA data transmission on its live network. Sprint CTO John Saw has expressed his delight at the success of the 5G project, and claims that it will provide a huge step forward in relation to the operators’ overall plans to launch next-generation services in the forthcoming months.

Sprint disclosed the details of the field test and revealed that it was conducted using 2.5GHz spectrum on the operators’ commercial network with radio equipment from Finnish vendor Nokia and a mobile test device from Qualcomm.

In addition to this, Sprint also disclosed that the trial demonstrated a successful handoff between 4G and 5G connectivity while streaming video, conducting Skype audio and video calls, and sending instant messages. Its test follows the completion of a 5G data transmission in a lab during December 2018. The operator earlier this week announced plans to release a Samsung 5G handset in 2019.

“Sprint 5G is now out of the lab and in the field as we prepare for our commercial launch in the first half of this year,” Saw said in a statement.

Nokia North America CTO Mike Murphy noted Sprint’s use of 2.5GHz spectrum for 5G will allow it to reuse existing 4G sites to provide both indoor and outdoor coverage: “This first standards-based call is thus a critical step towards Sprint’s offering of a 5G service to its customers.”

T-Mobile US recently claimed a similar milestone with what it said was the world’s first 5G data call and video call using 600MHz spectrum.

Indian operator Reliance Communications has made a partial payment of $18.6m to Ericsson in an effort to defuse their ongoing dispute after the Swedish vendor had called for the imprisonment of its chairman Anil Ambani after the company’s failure to pay the entirety of the services charges owed.

In a statement released by RCom, it confirmed that it had deposited a payment of $18.6 with the Supreme Court registry from operational funds it had at its disposal. In addition to this, it said it was taking all required steps towards enabling a settlement.

The Indian conglomerate also stressed in the statement that it remained fully committed to making the outstanding payment to Ericsson, and said it would be able to do so with the proceeds of a spectrum asset sale to Reliance Jio.

Ericsson is owed $78.5m in unpaid service charges, but the dispute between the pair escalated when RCom failed to settle the service charge on the date it was instructed to by the Supreme Court. In response to this, Ericsson increased the pressure on the Indian firm by filing a second contempt of court case against Anil Ambani, and said he should be detained in civil prison until the outstanding amount is settled.

RCom, which has all but exited the Indian mobile market, missed the original 30 September deadline to make the payment, but was then granted a reprieve until 15 December, a deadline which it also missed.

The company argued it was unable to make the payment in time because of delays by regulator Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in approving its spectrum sale to Reliance Jio, a deal first struck in December 2017. RCom reached a deal to sell off the majority of its mobile assets to Reliance Jio after creditors, including Ericsson, took action against the company over huge debts.

Telecom Italia (TIM), Qualcomm Technologies and Ericsson have successfully completed the first, live video call in Europe using 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum.

The partners used a smartphone equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G chipset on Ericsson equipment to make the call during the inauguration of the TIM’s new 5G Innovation Hub in Rome.

The new TIM 5G Innovation Hub aims to attract and support an ecosystem of startups, research centers and other stakeholders interested in the digital transformation. In addition to the 5G video call, TIM also showcased a series of new services including a remote-driven car; a virtual museum tour, remote controlled industrial robots; and multiplayer interactive video gaming using augmented reality.

Mario Di Mauro, Chief Strategy, Innovation and Customer Experience Officer at TIM, said: “When we started to define the strategy and the development plans for 5G, we immediately realized that such a massive challenge could not be faced without the support of a wide range of partners committed to the same goal. We therefore proposed Qualcomm Technologies set up a place where work on the new 5G services and every business idea could find a quick realization thanks to the support of leading international technology players, innovative partners and start-ups from the local and national ecosystem.”

Four telecom operators in Bangladesh have applied to partake in a 4G auction in February, the Daily Star reported. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) was given the green light to proceed with the auction, after the Bangladesh Supreme Court halted it.

The auction was stayed by the Supreme Court in response to a petition from Banglalion Communications arguing that the notice inviting applications for 4G licenses contravenes 2008 wireless broadband guidelines specifying that no auction would be held, but the auction will now go ahead with the Supreme Court’s approval.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has indicated that 4G services will be available in the country by March. According to the report, BRTC has received four applications for 4G licenses, and state-run Teletalk has not applied to take part in the auction.

In a bid to resume offering services, operator Citycell, confirmed its participation in the auction, after it was forced to suspend operations in 2017. The operator’s spectrum was revoked due to unpaid license fees. Citycell will partake in the auction happening on February 13.

Vodafone Group’s Networks Centre of Excellence team and the Huawei Mobile Innovation Centre have been testing a way to help address spectrum constraints in Turkey. The teams have completed the world’s first trial of GSM/LTE (GL) 900MHz dynamic spectrum sharing on Vodafone’s commercial networks in the Black Coast city of Trabzon.

"Spectrum is an extremely precious asset. This new network optimization technique improves spectral efficiency and enhances the experience of Vodafone customers,” said Mallik Rao, Vodafone Turkey’s Chief Technology Officer.”

Last year Vodafone and Huawei achieved overlap by GSM (2G) and LTE (4G) services within the 900 MHz spectrum band. Now the companies have shown that it is possible to assign that spectrum dynamically i.e. available 900 MHz can be allocated between 4G and 2G services based on customer demand.

In the trial, which took place over several months, dynamic sharing allowed Vodafone Turkey to provide up to 10MHz of 4G capacity and throughput in a very effective way. 4G KPIs show the improvement in network performance and better user experience. The test cases showed that download and upload throughput improved by 20 percent.

Ying Weimin, President of Huawei Wireless Network Research & Development, said: “We are glad to have tested GL 900MHz dynamic spectrum sharing on Vodafone Turkey’s commercial networks, and to have achieved satisfying performance results in the past few months. Huawei is dedicated to offering technical innovations to secure our customers' business success.”