Vodafone, Qualcomm, and Xiaomi recently conducted the first European test of enhanced 5G uplink Technology, bringing faster upload speeds and wider coverage to customers with the new wave of smartphones and devices expected in 2024.
During the test, Vodafone, Qualcomm, and Xiaomi achieved peak upload speeds of up to 273 megabits-per-second (Mbps), significantly higher than the average upload speed of 100 Mbps found in most smartphones and home broadband. This advanced 5G technology, which raises upload speeds closer to download levels, also extends coverage and increases capacity.
The breakthrough was made possible using Vodafone’s new 5G Standalone (5G SA) networks in Germany and Spain, combined with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon® 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform and the next Xiaomi flagship smartphone. This allows customers to upload photos, videos, and files to social media sites and the cloud at almost double the speed possible with current devices.
The enhanced uplink capabilities are crucial to meet the growing demand for cloud storage, video streaming, augmented and virtual reality applications, and multiplayer gaming. Vodafone Chief Network Officer, Alberto Ripepi, expressed the company’s commitment to ensuring their customers are among the first to benefit from this new 5G feature.
The test utilized the advanced capabilities of 5G SA, specifically the ability to enhance uplink performance using a technique called Uplink Carrier Aggregation with Tx Switching, which combines multiple transmission channels supported by the smartphone and the mobile antenna. This technology is a significant advancement from existing 5G services which rely partly on 4G technology.
The successful test was conducted in Ciudad Real, Spain, using Vodafone’s live multi-vendor testing 5G network and Vodafone’s commercial 5G SA network in Hannover, Germany. These advancements are the latest in Vodafone’s innovation in 5G technology, which includes successful tests of 6GHz spectrum for boosting capacity in the future.
About Vodafone:
Vodafone is the largest pan-European and African telecom company, connecting over 300 million customers in 17 countries and partnering with mobile networks in 46 more. They are dedicated to reducing their environmental impact and driving action to achieve their sustainability targets by 2030.
For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com, or follow VodafoneGroup on Twitter. For investor relations inquiries, visit investors.vodafone.com or contact ir@vodafone.co.uk. For media relations, visit vodafone.com/media/contact or contact GroupMedia@vodafone.com.
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