Bell is expanding investment in small cell infrastructure ahead of 5G
Canadian telecom operator Bell confirmed it is currently conducting further trials of 5G mobile technology in the 28 GHz and 3.5 GHz ranges.
In a release to announce the telco’s quarterly financial results, Bell said it was carrying out the new 5G trials in partnership with Chinese telecoms equipment provider Huawei.
Bell previously demonstrated 5G capability in the 73 GHz range in collaboration with Nokia last year.
“5G technology will enable significantly faster data speeds, lower latency, and increased capacity to meet demands for mobile video, virtual reality, and internet of things (IoT) applications,” the telco said.
Bell is a member of the Next Generation Mobile Networks consortium, a global body defining requirements for the international 5G ecosystem.
The Canadian operator also said that 82% of the Canadian population is now covered by Bell LTE Advanced (LTE-A) with speeds up to 260 Mbps. Bell now reaches 33% of Canadians with Tri-band LTE-A service offering theoretical speeds up to 335 Mbps, and up to 750 Mbps with the Bell Quad Band LTE-A service available to 21% of the population.
The telco also highlighted that it is increasing investments in the deployment of small-cell technology to optimize mobile coverage, signal quality and data backhaul.
Huawei in talks with Indian telcos for 5G innovation
In other 5G news, Chinese vendor Huawei is in talks with Indian telecom operators to promote joint innovation around 5G technology. Huawei also said that the firm is currently involved in initial 5G trials in the country.
“Huawei is focusing on a number of technologies such as network virtualization, software-defined network and network slicing, which are all pre-5G technologies and will eventually lead to commercial roll out of 5G in India,” the vendor said.
Huawei has recently signed an agreement with Indian telco Airtel to deploy pre-5G technologies including massive MIMO in some of telecoms circles.
