Hutchison Drei Austria, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison, has announced that it has successfully completed tests of ‘Pre-5G’ Massive Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) with equipment vendor ZTE. The implementation of Massive MIMO increased the capacity of radio cells by up to six times compared to conventional LTE solutions. The tests were carried out with currently commercially available 4G terminals and will continue to run in the next few weeks.
At the start of the year, ZTE and Drei signed a ‘Pre-5G Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)’ to build the first Pre-5G trial site in Europe. ZTE’s Pre-5G concept involves using core 5G technologies already on 4G networks to effectively alleviate the pressure of the data traffic surge on telecom operators’ networks before the standardisation of 5G technologies comes into place.