Huawei and Optus reach a jaw-dropping peak download speed of 1.23 Gbps in "live network conditions" during a trial of 4.5G or LTE-Advanced Pro technology on Feb. 17 at the Gigasite of the Australian telecommunications company in Newcastle.
With a mix of Carrier Aggregation, Higher Level Modulation and 4X4 Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), the pair was able to achieve this feat, which it says has theoretical maximum speeds that go up to 1.43 Gbps.
According to the acting Managing Director of Optus Networks Dennis Wong, the companies continue to work in this direction in preparation for 5G, the fifth-generation mobile network that's estimated to arrive by 2020.
Regarding the trial, Optus says that it was a success because of "continued innovation and partnership" with Huawei, which dates back to 2013 when they announced the world's first Gigasite.
"This field trial in Newcastle is a first and important milestone as a direct result of our local investments in R&D here in Australia. This joint trial represents a significant advance toward fulfilling Huawei's & Optus' commitment to developing 4.5G technology in Australia," James Zhao, CEO of Huawei Australia, says.
Singtel, the parent company of Optus, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on joint research and development with Huawei back in 2014. What's interesting about this is that Huawei is also working with Singtel's Singaporean rival M1 on this field, where they reached 1 Gbps download and 130 Mbps upload speeds just last month on the mobile network of M1 in Singapore.
In other related news, U.S. telecommunication companies AT&T and Verizon are pushing out efforts in 5G testing. Verizon began its venture on the next-generation mobile network last year, whereas AT&T is going to start sometime during the second quarter of 2016.
It's also worth noting that 5G is more or less a necessity to allow self-driving cars and virtual reality experiences, to name a few, to work seamlessly.
At any rate, Huawei and Optus' latest trial is clearly a good sign that indicates where the mobile network technology is headed. It won't be long until we enjoy 50 times faster speeds compared to the current speediest 4G LTE available.
