At its headquarters in Brussels, the company showed with network partner Huawei a test of pre-5G MU-MIMO technology in the so-called E-band, specifically 73 GHz. The test achieved speeds of over 70 Gbps. Proximus claims this is a first in Belgium.
While 5G is still awaiting standards and spectrum, and is not expected to launch until after 2020, Proximus confirmed it will roll out 4.5G from next year. The operator conducted tests of Huawei's LTE-Advanced Pro system earlier this year that reached speeds over 1 Gbps. The Belgian operator said the actual roll-out will offer theoretical speeds of up to 450 Mbps download.
That compares to a theoretical maximum of 225 Mbps over the current 4G network. According to tests by Commsquare in Q3, Proximus' LTE network is averaging real speeds of 34.7 Mbps download and 16.6 Mbps upload.
The 4.5G roll-out will focus on areas with high demand and capacity constraints, in order to maintain the high-quality user experience. However, the next-generation upgrade is not expected to match the current nationwide 4G coverage until going on 2020, said Geert Standaert, CTO of Proximus.
Over the same period the operator is preparing its network for the eventual 5G launch, including adding small cells and strengthening backhaul, with fibre in some areas. The focus is on densification now, in order to improve the customer experience in high-demand areas, according to the CTO.
An initial small cell trial was started a year ago already in Antwerp and delivered promising results, Standaert said. With only 13 small cells, the company was able to offload 12 percent of traffic from the macro network, freeing up more capacity. It saw an over 50 percent increase in outdoor download speeds and 2-3x improvement in indoor speeds as a result. According to its own tests, this reduced the time to download a 10 MB file to under 6 seconds in 95 percent of cases, half the normal rate of around 12 seconds. The small cells will be rolled out in other areas of Belgium in the coming years where Proximus sees growing demand for data capacity, Standaert said.
In the more near term, Proximus is rolling out VoLTE from 22 November. It will initially be available on selected handsets from Samsung, such as the Galaxy S6 and S7. One of the key advantages of voice over LTE is reducing the call set-up time, which Standaert said will drop to around 2 seconds, compared to around 7 seconds now when customers are forced to fallback to the 3G network.
Proximus already offers HD Voice on the 3G network since early this year and will add HD Voice over 2G from the first quarter of next year. This should result in around a quarter of calls benefiting from the improved voice quality, Standaert said.
