U Mobile has rollout its 4G LTE-Advanced network in Kota Belud, Sabah. The new LTE-Advanced network is capable of delivering Internet speeds of more than 100Mbps.
Kota Belud is a town located in the West Coast Division of the state of Sabah, Malaysia. It is located roughly at the midpoint of the federal highway connecting the state capital, Kota Kinabalu, and Kudat, near the northern tip of Sabah.
The unveiling took place at the launch of ‘Smart Community Programme’ organised by the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC) on Saturday, 13th August in Kota Belud, Sabah.
According to U Mobile, the Telco has deployed more than 20 4G LTE-Advanced sites covering the whole district of Kota Belud. The new LTE technology uses the spectrum in 2.6Ghz and 1800Mhz band (with special permission from MCMC). Earlier this year, U Mobile was allocated 2x5MHz of 900MHz and 2x15MHz of 1800MHz for 15 years, with full nationwide implementation starting 1 January 2017.
U Mobile has close to 2000 4G LTE sites nationwide, however the Telco did not disclose the percentage of its LTE population coverage to MalaysianWireless. In terms of 3G, its population coverage now stands at 86% nationwide, covering Sabah & Sarawak as well.
In 2014, U Mobile in partnership with Maxis (3G RAN Sharing) had more than 4,000 sites in key cities and highly populated regions across Malaysia. At that time, it targeted to have 6,000 3G and 4G LTE sites by the end of 2015.
Last year, the Telco entered into the phase of 5G network development. Pre-5G is an intermediate level between 4G and 5G. The technology has the potential to offer speeds up to 10 times faster as compared to a 4G LTE network. It will be available earlier than 5G and is able to deliver a near 5G user experience. 5G vision will support the capability of peaking download speeds at up to 20Gbps.
