Page 115 - SAMENA Trends - September 2019

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Telenor Launches 5G Pilot in Norway

Telenor has launched what it claims connected to the 5G network to test 5G strengthened our commitment to 5G. The
is Scandinavia’s largest 5G pilot in the on mobile handsets, broadband and TV, residents of Elverum have exciting times
Norwegian municipality of Elverum. Telenor as well as smart home solutions. Petter ahead of them, reaping the benefits of
is Norway’s first operator to integrate 5G Furberg, CEO, Telenor Norway, said, “This is what next-generation mobile technology
into its mobile network. Through the project, an important day both for the residents of has to offer.” Over the next year, Telenor
delivered in partnership with Ericsson, 50 Elverum and us at Telenor. With the launch also plans to launch 5G in the Norwegian
pilot customers in the municipality will be of Scandinavia’s largest 5G pilot, we have cities of Fornebu, Trondheim, Bodø, Oslo,
Askvoll, Svalbard, Kvitfjell and Frøya. Jenny
Lindqvist, Head of Northern & Central
Europe at Ericsson, said, “The success of
this 5G pilot signals great things in store
not just for Elverum but for Norway as a
whole. The benefits of 5G’s high speeds,
low latency, and superior reliability will
make a real difference.” Earlier this year,
Telenor Denmark announced 5G trials with
Nokia, while in Asia this month, Telenor’s
Malaysian operation, Digi, partnered with
Cyberview to open a 5G lab in the country.
The ‘OpenLab’ will be a collaborative space
for businesses academics and developers
to test new 5G use cases.

Three to Enhance 4G with 1400MHz Spectrum

Three UK is deploying 1400MHz or benefited from a 15% improvement in officer at Three UK said, “5G is a game-
‘L-Band’ spectrum at its busiest sites to performance thanks to the deployment changer for Three’s current and future
improve 4G performance as data usage of carrier aggregation technology. The customers. It will bring faster speeds, a
soars. 6,000 sites carrying 80% of Three’s 4G upgrade, which is part of a £2 billion better experience and masses of capacity
traffic will be upgraded with new antennas infrastructure investment program, will which will benefit our 4G customers as
and 1400MHz L-Band spectrum. Three run until 2023 alongside Three’s 5G rollout, well. While we are investing heavily in 5G,
says customers with compatible handsets which began in Central London in August. 4G is still very important for our mobile
will see speed improvements of up to Three claims to be the first UK operator to and home broadband services. “These
150%, or 50% for those without. Further, break the 10GB monthly data usage barrier upgrades will ensure that our data-hungry
at 12,500 sites, Three will switch some per customer. In July 2019, average usage customers are getting the best possible 4G
of its 3G spectrum over to 4G, saying across the Three UK network was 10.4GB experience as 5G rolls out.”
this will deliver improvements of up to per month, compared to the UK average
40%. Three says 3,960 sites have already of 2.9GB. David Dyson, chief executive

Sunrise Extends 5G to 262 Towns and Cities

Swiss telecoms operator Sunrise has cities and states its 5G network is able to The network utilizes spectrum in the
announced it is providing 5G coverage in offer speeds of up to 2Gbps. As previously 700MHz and 2.4GHz-2.5GHz frequency
262 towns and cities across the country. reported by CommsUpdate, Sunrise’s 5G bands.
The firm says it covers at least 80% of the service went live on 4 April, with initial
population within each of those towns and coverage of 150 towns, villages and cities.
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