ZTE announced that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement covering 5G and IoT technology with Telenet based in Belgium, a national provider of media and communications services, expanding the two companies' collaboration on next-generation technologies.
Telenet is the largest cable broadband service provider in Belgium, offering a range of digital television, fixed and mobile services to residential and business customers across Belgium and Luxembourg.
ZTE noted that in August last year, Telenet selected it to upgrade its national mobile network via the deployment of its Uni-RAN technology. The network modernisation enabled significant improvements in performance and service quality for Telenet subscribers, as well as enhanced management capabilities.
As part of the mobile network upgrade, ZTE helped Telenet replace 2G base stations and optimise 3G and 4G coverage to provide increased network capacity and improve service quality for subscribers, as well as prepare for the migration to future network technologies.
Working with ZTE, Telenet is also exploring technology for IoT services and high capacity solutions using LTE massive MIMO and LTE broadcast solutions.
- Previously, in December 2016 ZTE and Telenet announced they had completed an outfield Pre5G test. Telenet claimed that it had become the first operator in Europe to achieve 1.3 Gbit/s download speed in live network condition. The Pre5G demonstration also constituted part of Telenet's effort towards the roll-out of 5G technology.
- The Pre5G demonstration involved the use of four commercial spectrum bands, combined with Pre5G key technologies including massive carrier aggregation, 4 x 4 MIMO and 256QAM and achieved a data rate of 1.3 Gbit/s in real-world conditions.
- In partnership with ZTE, Telenet stated that during 2017 it planned to deploy Pre5G solutions in urban areas across its service area, as well as for a number of large-scale events, such as Tomorrowland.
