Canadian operator Telus has announced achieving wireless speeds of 29.3Gbps via its ‘5G Living Lab’ partnership with China’s Huawei in Vancouver. A press release adds that both companies have been trialling next generation technologies since late last year in a live, real-world setting, and whilst 5G is anticipated to become mainstream by 2020, Telus customers living in the Vancouver area ‘will have early access to some of the most cutting-edge wireless technologies in the world.’ Eros Spadotto, Telus’ executive VP of technology strategy, commented: ‘We’re still in the early days of determining what the deployment of 5G will look like, but what we do know is that it will be a quantum leap forward in wireless technology and the foundation of future innovations.’ Telus is also investing heavily in fibre infrastructure in Vancouver to support the cutting-edge mobile speeds.
In addition to the successful 29.3Gbps ‘5G’ field trial, one of Telus’ 4G LTE wireless sites in Vancouver has been upgraded with Huawei’s LTE-Advanced Pro (‘4.5G’) technologies capable of speeds of up to 1Gbps – ‘ten times faster than current LTE-Advanced speeds’, according to the company. Five more sites will be upgraded in the coming weeks, and Telus customers will be able to take advantage of the speed upgrade next year when LTE-Advanced Pro compatible devices become available.