telco_telco 28/11/2013 16:49 Page 1
4.5G - 300 Mbps
and beyond
planning around – a mobile
data usage surge of 750% over
the next couple of years, as people latch on to the fact that their
mobile broadband speeds really
can exceed that of FTTC (Fibre
to the Cabinet) technology.
According to one EE technical person I was speaking to
recently, 300Mbps mobile data
supports the use of high-data
business applications - such as
ERP and SAP – in a cloud computing environment, as well as
replacing the need for mobile
satellite connections in the field.
But EE has its sights set
more practically, for consumers,
where it notes that, whilst BBC
iPlayer streams at 5 Mbps in HD
format, the upcoming 4K TV
standard requires the use of
four times this speed –
constantly. With 4.5G this is
easily achieved, and across
many devices in a single base
station service area.
With 1.2m users of its 4G
service, EE’s coverage now
spans more than 130 towns and
cities across the UK – about
60% population coverage – and
prices are continuing to fall. The
only limitation that I can see is
the data volume caps the cellco
is applying, although I did see
corporate plans offering as
much as a Terabyte of data a
month on offer, so it’s clear that
EE is investing in the very necessary network backhaul.
At these kinds of speeds, we
really are starting to see the
possible use of 4G
replacing landline
Steve Gold broadband in rural
From his base in
areas – which is
Sheffield, England,
Steve has been a exactly what is haptelecommunications pening, as EE has just
journalist for 26 years, announced the launch
21 of them full-time.
of 4G broadband in
E-mail him at
[email protected] rural Cumbria in the
have to take my (virtual) hat off to EE as its
4G network continues
its breath-taking roll-out
across the UK. In my central London hotel in early
November, for example, I
was getting an impressive
44Mbps downstream and
20Mbps upstream - further
tests revealed that this was
a real-world speed, allowing me to download a
software image from my
cloud servers at astonishing
speeds.
But the cellco is not resting
on its laurels, however, as it has
just announced the launch of
LTE-Advanced (4.5G) services
in London’s Tech City, with
plans to roll out the service
across London as 2014
progresses.
With claimed top speeds of
300 Mbps downstream, there
are only a handful of desk-based
devices capable of supporting
LTE-A, but a few cellular handsets are due early in 2014 to
support the carrier frequency
aggregation required. This
brings together 20MHz of
1800MHz spectrum and 20MHz
of 2.6GHz spectrum.
The only downside - at the
moment - with these speeds is
that the kit tends to get hot
when processing the data, but
like all technology issues, this
will be countered in time. And it
will happen, as EE’s technical
people are predicting – and
I
24 EUROMEDIA
The prospect of even faster
networks is all very well, says
Steve Gold, but what about
the data caps?
North West of England.
According to the cellco, more
than 2,000 residents and businesses in rural Cumbria are now
using superfast home and office
broadband for the first time,
with a promotional offer of
20GB for just £25 per month.
The Cumbrian rollout follows
EE’s 4G commercial trial in the
area of Threlkeld, where users
experienced average speeds of
24Mbps. The network has now
been extended to cover more
than 100 square miles.
The new wireless broadband
plan comes with a home-based
device for £69.99, the Huawei
B953, which has high-gain
internal antennas and is
designed specifically to suit the
needs of rural locations. It then
delivers a WiFi broadband
signal, just like being connected
to a fibre broadband network.
According to Olaf Swantee,
EE’s CEO, the carrier’s goal is to
enhance the digital lives of
everyone in the UK, so this
major expansion of its superfast
broadband service in one of the
most rural and geographically
challenging areas of the
country is a big step
towards that goal. “There
is a lot of work to do in
2014 to reach more people and businesses in
rural areas, and investment-friendly government policies have an
important role to play
in supporting this, but