C&W Communications (C&W) announced that it has completed a pre-5G trial in Antigua, and that once installed the country will become the first in the region with an advanced pre-5G network delivering download peak speeds of up to 800 Mbit/s.
In the next phase of the trial, the company stated that it expects to test a 5G prototype delivering peak speeds of 2 to 5 Gbit/s. The pre-5G trials were announced by C&W CEO John Reid during the CANTO annual conference and trade exhibition in the Dominican Republic as part of his keynote address.
C&W's pre-5G technology trial, a combined effort carried out with parent company Liberty Global, is based on LTE Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro), which is designed to deliver lower latency, greater capacity and improved reliability for cust
omers and enable a faster and better quality mobile Internet service.
omers and enable a faster and better quality mobile Internet service.
C&W stated that in early October, it plans to conduct further tests on a 5G prototype network designed to deliver wireless data connections above 2 Gbit/s. If the trials prove successful, and the business case is assessed to be favourable, the company plans to invest a further $5 million in Antigua for a major upgrade of the wireless infrastructure. C&W noted it has invested a total of $1.5 billion in the region over the past three years.
C&W's stated that its pre-5G trial and 5G prototype trials are part of a partnership with Ericsson, which will provide the equipment and software in Antigua and for its operations across the Caribbean.
- In 2016, Ericsson and Cisco announced an agreement to supply and install IP networks for C&W, operating the retail brand Flow, in three Caribbean markets. The project included an upgrade to the IP backbone network in the Bahamas and a new business-to-business IP/MPLS network in Jamaica and Barbados.
