Vodafone has announced the launch of its ‘5G Beam’ technology service in Germany, as it plots its course towards the introduction of fifth-generation wireless technology. TeleGeography notes that Beamforming is a signal processing technique that directs signals from multiple antennas towards where mobile customers are situated. Vodafone’s 5G Beam solution purports to utilise ‘128 specially arranged tiny antennas’ to increase down/upload speeds and improve capacity.
Vodafone says that it intends to offer the service on a commercial basis later this year, starting in rural areas. The telco expects the service to be used in conjunction with its GigaCube router, and hopes that the new solution will be able to reduce its reliance on slow DSL lines in rural areas.