Mobitel, first in S Asia to successfully demonstrate LTE
Achieves data rate of 96 Mbps:
Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, the National Mobile Telecom Service
Provider, announced yesterday that it has carried out a successful trial
of LTE (Long Term Evolution) Technology achieving speeds of up to 96
Mbps.
Having launched the first Super-3.5G HSPA network in South Asia in
December 2007, and subsequently carried out trial of HSPA+, MIMO
(Multiple Input Multiple Output) with downlink speeds of up to 28 Mbps
in 2009, another first in the region, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel has
broken the speed barrier even further to demonstrate broadband speeds of
up to 96Mbps in downlink and 49Mbps in uplink using LTE technology, and
setting another record in the region for the third consecutive time.
Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel Chairman Nimal Welgama said, “Technology
advances are among the key drivers that push outwards a country’s
Production Possibility Frontier catalyzing economic growth.
‘As such, the National Mobile Telecom Service Provider, Mobitel has
committed to embrace and offer the latest and the most advanced
technologies that are needed for Sri Lanka’s rapid development. We
strongly believe that embracing latest ICT technologies like LTE will
lay the most conducive infrastructure for other sectors to grow and
blossom at a fast pace leading Sri Lanka towards a fully developed
nation.”
The prime factor behind the super-fast speeds demonstrated in LTE
technology when compared to existing and most advanced 3G technologies
is that the spectral efficiency is four to five times greater in LTE
than in the most advanced 3G technologies.
The use of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) carrier
modulation in LTE allows easy upward scalability for higher bandwidth
requirements, coupled with MIMO technology, which effectively uses
multiple antennae in both the Terminal Device (Data dongle, Tablet
PC/Smart Phone etc.) and radio network to transmit and receive multiple
streams of information within the same spectrum. The demonstration was
carried out in the 2.6GHz frequency range, and initiatives are under way
to explore operations at other spectrum bands for commercial deployment.
Witnessing this trial at Mobitel’s Flagship Care Centre,
Telecommuniations Director General Anusha Pelpita said “TRCSL is
committed to assist all the telecommunication operators in Sri Lanka to
develop world class telecommunication network facilities in the country.
The spectrum allocation for the commercial operation of LTE will soon be
finalized where the operators will be able to launch nationwide enhanced
ICT infrastructure to benefit all businesses and consumers in Sri Lanka
through this latest evolution in mobile broadband technology.”
This LTE trial not only demonstrated the superiority of LTE
technology but it also strengthened Mobitel’s confidence and ability in
the timely commercial deployment of a LTE ready network. As such,
Mobitel hopes to leverage on this trial to set up a commercial network
that will build on the immense potential this technology offers for a
wide variety of end-user offerings.
ZTE corporation of China was selected by Mobitel as its technology
partner to deploy this state-of-the-art LTE ready
Next-Generation-Network.
In particular, a factor which distinguishes LTE 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.
“As the National Mobile Telecom Services Provider we are committed to
take every initiative towards developing our nation through the use of
ICT,” said Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel CEO Suren J Amarasekara. “The
growing power of ICT services and terminal devices as well as emerging
trends such as cloud computing and machine-to-machine communications,
require network infrastructure capable of ultra high data link speeds
and bandwidth. We strongly believe that LTE will enhance the
capabilities towards fulfilling these ever increasing ICT needs of
citizens of Sri Lanka and thereby lead our country towards an infocom
and knowledge rich society.”
The successful demonstration of LTE technology which saw a downlink
speed exceeding 96 Mbps is part of the company’s latest network
expansion project.
The LTE network demonstration was conducted in the presence of
Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Anusha
Palpita.
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Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel
* Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka
Telecom.
* In January 2004, the company launched its fully-fledged 2.5G GSM
network. In December 2007, the company launched its 3.5G HSPA network -
the first Super 3.5G network in South Asia.
* Mobitel successfully demonstrated HSPA + MIMO technology with down
link speed up to 28.8 mbps for the first time in the South Asian region.
* Investments committed to date in the 3.5G/2.5G networks and service
offering amounts to over US$400 mn. |