As part of its ongoing plans to introduce fifth-generation technology, telecoms operator O2 Czech Republic has activated its 5G network, running in a live environment, covering the city of Koline in the Central Bohemian Region of the Republic some 55km east of Prague. Working with the country’s infrastructure provider Ceska telekomunikacni infrastruktura (CETIN) and Sweden’s Ericsson, O2 confirmed the live pilot trial of the next generation technology using a leased 3.5GHz test frequency equipped with Massive MIMO 64T64R and 256QAM technologies.
As previously reported by Telegeography, in April this year O2 Czech Republic soft-launched in Koline, claiming to provide download speeds of up to 1Gbps and Wireless Internet at Home with speeds of up to 250Mbps. O2 spokesperson Jan Pear confirmed at the time: ‘In Koline, our customers can experience the real-world speed of mobile data available in 5G networks today, when real 5G coverage is limited to just a few pilot installations in the world’.
The operator is achieving the higher speeds by combining several frequency bands – LTE-800 FDD, LTE-1800 FDD, LTE-2100 FDD and LTE-2600 FDD.