Telkom to introduce Massive MIMO in 2018

Telkom South Africa has concluded a demonstration of Massive MIMO technology, using 20MHz of TDD spectrum in the 2.3GHz band, in partnership with equipment vendor Huawei. The company achieved peak rates of 909Mbps in the trial, showing improved spectrum efficiency and network coverage. ‘Massive MIMO will enable Telkom’s mobile customers to achieve data at a rate up to five times faster than current 4G technology … This will result in better throughput speeds and improved coverage, leading to a better overall experience for consumers,’ the company said in a press release. Telkom – which has introduced LTE, LTE-A and 4×4 MIMO to offer speeds of up to 600Mbps – is aiming to commercially introduce the Massive MIMO technology this year.