Vodafone and Huawei have trialled 4G on the 2.6GHz bandwidth by using small cells in the Chinese vendor’s UK headquarters.
The service, which uses Huawei’s LampSite LTE 2.6 technology, offers employees and visitors 4G speeds of up to 82MBps downlink and 42MBps uplink.
Both companies’ technology and innovation teams developed the product. Vodafone said it is planning to offer the small cell tech to medium and large business customers at a later date.
Fergal Kelly, CTO of Vodafone UK, commented: “I am delighted to see 2.6Ghz in action on small cell and the impressive data speeds it offers. I’m also impressed with the rapid response from Huawei to this innovation challenge from Vodafone. One year to the day from initial discussion to live product is fantastic and such pace of innovation will be invaluable to Vodafone as we continue to build out the UK’s strongest network.”
Zhou Yuefeng, President of Huawei’s Small Cell and Wi-Fi Product Line, added: “This solution is a result of our key joint innovations with Vodafone and is designed with the technology and business requirements of our valued customers in mind.”
4G is expected to become the main driver of the small cell market during the next 12 months. Recent research from Infonetics said that after 3G cells accounted for more than half of the market during 2013, 4G will close the gaps during the coming months.
The analyst firm predicted the small cell market will be worth €948 million by the end of this year – growth of 65 percent.
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