Operator demos LTE-A at 600 Mbps using 4X4 MIMO technology
Singapore’s second-largest mobile operator, StarHub, expects its 4G-Advanced network coverage to reach 100% of the country’s territory in the third quarter of 2015, the company’s CTO Mock Pak Lum told RCR Wireless News.
The executive said that the technology is currently available in 85% of the territory. “We have been steadily upgrading our nationwide 4G network to 4G LTE-Advanced, to support data speeds of up to 300Mbps,” he said.
StarHub recently announced that it has successfully demonstrated 600 Mbps peak download speeds using Nokia Networks’ 4X4 MIMO technology with LTE-A carrier aggregation in a technical trial conducted at its headquarters. Nokia Networks used its Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station with LTE-A carrier aggregation to carry out the technical demonstration.
StarHub and Nokia Networks have also recently tested tri-band carrier aggregation using a commercial mobile device.
“Implementing tri-band carrier aggregation and boosting data speeds to 600 Mbps on our 4G LTE-Advanced network are in our roadmap. Commercialization would largely depend on the availability of compatible handset models,” Lum said.
The operator has offered LTE services in Singapore since September 2012. The LTE offering is provided through spectrum in both the 1,800 MHz and 2,600 MHz bands.
The company invested a total of $71 million during the first quarter, up compared to $49.6 million in the same quarter the previous year. Lum said that StarHub’s capital expenditure guidance for 2015 is maintained at about 13% of the operating revenue.
The operator ended Q1 2015 with 2.14 million mobile telephony subscribers, which represented a market share of 26.5%. StarHub had 1.3 million postpaid subscribers by the end of the period.
“We can say that 62% of our 1.3 million mobile postpaid customers were on our tiered data mobile price plans as of 31 March 2015, compared to 52% a year ago,” Lum said.
Mobile penetration in Singapore reached 148% at the end of March. The other two mobile telephony operators in Singapore are Singtel and M1.
