U Mobile has enhanced its mobile network in Johor Bahru with LTE Advanced Pro technology (4.5G) offering download speeds up to 375Mbps in the state using the 1800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies.
One of the major features of LTE Advanced Pro technology is Carrier Aggregation (CA), which allows mobile network operators to combine a number of separate LTE carriers/frequencies to deliver faster Internet speeds. U Mobile is the first Telco in Malaysia to commercially deploy state-of-the-art 4-transmit-4-receiver (4T4R) technology which enables 4×4 multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) on supported devices such as Samsung Galaxy S8 (Cat16 1024/150 Mbps), Samsung Galaxy S8+ (Cat16 1024/150 Mbps) and Huawei P10 Plus, with more devices to be made available this year.
Wong Heang Tuck, CEO of U Mobile, was in Johor Bahru to mark the launch of 4.5G service in the southern city. He said, “U Mobile is very excited to be able to launch 4.5G service in Johor Bahru. From today, customers in Johor Bahru will enjoy significant enhancement in their user experience. For those who are using smartphones that support 4.5G service such as Huawei P10 Plus, the enhancement will be even more significant with up to twice the speed of 4G, making their experiences in streaming, downloading and browsing so much faster and better.”
Powered by Huawei Technologies, one of U Mobile’s network partner, some 70% of the base station in Johor Bahru have been enabled with Carrier Aggregation, offering 4G LTE Advanced Pro download speeds. Johor Bahru is also the only state with U Mobile’s LTE 1800Mhz network, which offers improved mobile coverage.
The U Mobile CEO also shared that the upgrade will also take place in Ipoh, Penang and Klang Valley this year. “U Mobile’s Capex investment will exceed RM1 billion this year. Most of it will go into the rollout of additional spectrum awarded by the government last year. The additional 1800MHz was made available recently whilst the 900MHz will be made available on 1 July 2017. With the additional spectrum, our capacity will increase vastly and our spectrum per user ratio is the highest in the market today. Apart from spectrum rollout, the Capex investment is also going into the enhancement of our network service to 4.5G. In short, all U Mobile customers will experience a dramatic difference in their mobile experience this year, starting with Johor Bahru, Ipoh, Penang and Klang Valley.”
Abraham Liu Kang, CEO of Huawei Malaysia, said, “We are delighted that Malaysian customers can now experience a better and faster mobile broadband service based on 4.5G technologies. The new service not only allows customers to enjoy new initiatives like high definition (HD) video whenever and wherever they are, it is also a key stepping stone for the realisation of Internet of Things (IoT). We look forward to working with U Mobile and other industry partners to bring new and innovative services to more customers and vertical sectors in the near future.”
