Singapore mobile operator StarHub has expanded its Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) network to 85% of the city-state territory, with plans to up coverage to 100% in the third quarter of 2015. Mock Pak Lum, CTO at Singapore’s second largest mobile operator, told RCR Wireless News: ‘We have been steadily upgrading our nationwide 4G network to 4G LTE-Advanced, to support data speeds of up to 300Mbps.’
The carrier’s announcement comes hot on the heels of its recent demo of LTE-A technology in partnership with Nokia Networks, which reportedly achieved peak download speeds of 600Mbps using 4X4 multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) technology with LTE-A Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology. The pair also showcased tri-band CA technology using a commercially available mobile device on Nokia’s Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station, to carry out the technical demonstration. StarHub, which launched 4G services in the 1800MHz/2600MHz bands in September 2012, invested a total of SGD71 million (USD52.5 million) in 1Q15 – up from SGD49.6 million in the same period a year ago – and Lum said that StarHub’s capital expenditure guidance for 2015 is maintained at about 13% of total operating revenue.