U Mobile and ZTE in pre-5G/ 5G pact

• Pre-5G can offer speeds up to 10x faster than a 4G LTE network
• U Mobile also looking into developing 5G core technologies

U MOBILE Sdn Bhd said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ZTE Corporation, the China-based telecommunications, equipment and network solutions provider, to drive the development of pre-5G (Fifth Generation) and the future implementation of 5G mobile network technologies locally.
 
Financial terms were not disclosed.
 
In a statement, U Mobile said it is the first telco in Malaysia to enter into a 5G network development phase.
 
The company also said that 70% of its subscribers are smartphone users. With the ZTE agreement, it intends to “lead the market on the adoption of 5G technologies that are able to provide ultra-fast connection speed and higher network capacity for consumer demands.”
 
“We see 5G technology as the technology that would support the ever-increasing communication needs of the future,” said U Mobile chief technology officer Too Tian Jen.
 
Pre-5G is an intermediate level between 4G and 5G. The technology has the potential to offer speeds up to 10 times faster than a 4G LTE (Fourth Generation/ Long-Term Evolution) network, U Mobile said in its statement.
 
 It will be available earlier than 5G and is able to deliver a “near 5G user experience,” the company added.
 
While undertaking the research on pre-5G stages, U Mobile is also seeking to develop 5G core technologies that are still currently at an early standardisation stage.
 
5G will support the capability of peaking download speeds at up to 20Gbps, which is 20 times faster than the LTE-Advanced rate of 1Gbps. It allows users to download a High-Definition (HD) movie in seconds compared with the minutes needed on a 4G LTE network.
 
When it comes to data capacity, 5G would be able to offer up to 1,000 times more capacity compared with 4G.
 
“ZTE is delighted to work on 5G technologies with U Mobile, the leader in network innovations in Malaysia,” said ZTE Malaysia managing director Steven Ge.
 
“ZTE is making major investments in 5G to lead the industry in the research and standardisation of this key technology of the future,” he added.
 
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