Chinese vendor ZTE has partnered with a regional branch of China Mobile to launch a marine broadband satellite solution.
ZTE said that this new broadband satellite solution, dubbed “Heweitong,” can solve the common problems of marine communication, such as poor coverage, slow data rate, and high cost. Heweitong offers internet access through an app, the vendor said.
“During the commercial trial phase, users can experience the solution free of charge. In the commercial stage, the communication cost of this solution will be more than 90% lower than that of the traditional marine communication solutions,” ZTE said.
In 2015, ZTE and Zhejiang Branch of China Mobile launched the verification, research and development and testing of the marine broadband satellite solution, and they carried out a complete marine trial. More than 50 ships and nearly 300 users in the Bohai Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea participated in the trial.
“In addition to the marine satellite broadband system, ZTE will continue to innovate with China Mobile to provide marine users with services of higher speed, lower cost and better user experiences,” ZTE added.
ZTE said it planned to continue to work with China Mobile to expand use cases of the system to other topographies, including desert and forest regions.
Huawei, Sunrise launch FWA service in Switzerland
Huawei and Swiss operator confirmed they will provide Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) service to 5G pioneer users in Switzerland.
Sunrise also plans to launch 5G smartphone and 5G HD IPTV services this year
With Sunrise 5G FWA service, residential users and small and medium-sized firms will have access to high-speed internet services, the Chinese vendor said.
“With Huawei innovative 5G solution and global hands-on 5G deployment experience, we are strongly confident to provide best user experience to our customers that underpins our position as the number one 5G provider in Switzerland,” said Sunrise CEO Olaf Swantee.
Yang Chaobin, president of Huawei 5G Product Line, said that “5G global commercial deployment will start in 2019. We are willing to support Sunrise and other strategic partners worldwide to provide 5G services to people with faster speeds, lower latency, and more secure connections.”
Huawei is providing Sunrise with its end-to-end 5G network, including radio access network, transport network and core network.
Sunrise previously said that it aims to launch commercial 5G services during this year.With its 5G network, the European operator plans to cover more than 150 towns cities and villages across Switzerland.
In December 2017, Sunrise completed a new business demonstration based on 5G end-to-end network with Huawei, including virtual reality, panoramic video live broadcast, and 12-channel ultra-high definition video. In the 3.5 GHz band, the downlink throughput rate reached 3.28 Gbps.
In June 2018, Sunrise completed the first end-to-end 5G standard network deployment, and in November, the telco deployed the standard 5G network in the Swiss ski resort Laax.
