Huawei plans initial deployment in Europe
China-based hardware manufacturer Huawei announced a new L-band antenna designed to support ultra-wideband and multiband mobile connectivity.
Huawei said it began research and development for the new L-band antenna last year, noting it’s the first to join UWB and multiband with other major frequency bands in one unit. A company representative said the initial deployment is planned for Europe as “regulators recently decided to make the band available for mobile broadband.”
“In addition, the antenna has the advantage of multiband support eliminating the need for repeated site upgrades for additional bands, increased capacity reserved for future expansion for possible future LTE frequency bands and an improvement of overall network performance,” the rep said.
The L-Band exists between the 1 GHz and 2 GHz frequencies. Among other uses, the L-Band carries GPS location as well as GSM mobile phones and various satellite phones. The new antenna also covers the 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz bands.
Zhou Taoyuan, president of Huawei’s antenna business unit, emphasized the fundamental importance of tapping into available spectrum.
“Spectrum is king in the development of [mobile broadband], and L-band will play a critical role in the space in the coming years,” Taoyuan said in a prepared statement. “Designed to help operators deploy MBB networks more efficiently, Huawei’s new L-band supported antenna is an important addition to our ultra wide band and multi band antenna portfolio and testament to our continued leadership in wireless technology innovation.”
Huawei said it shipped more than 1 million antennas last year, serving 16 of the top 20 operators worldwide.
The military also uses the L-band for telemetry and the spectrum range contains frequencies used by amateur radio operators.
Huawei was founded in 1987 and is wholly owned by its employees.
