Optus and Nokia lift 900MHz 5G speeds in ACT test using full 25MHz downlink
Optus and Nokia say a live-network trial in the ACT delivered download speeds up to 91 per cent faster outdoors and 51 per cent faster indoors by letting a commercial phone use Optus' full 25MHz downlink channel in the 900MHz band.
Optus and Nokia have demonstrated an asymmetric 5G configuration in Optus' 900MHz spectrum that delivered download speeds up to 91 per cent faster outdoors and 51 per cent faster indoors than the existing network set-up. The companies describe it as a world-first, and Mobile World Live reported they called the live-network trial a "technical world-first".
The configuration pairs a 25MHz downlink with a 20MHz uplink in the 900MHz band. It allowed a commercial smartphone to use Optus' full 25MHz downlink channel for the first time. Optus said the gains came because the handset in the test could use the whole 25MHz. The testing took place in the ACT on the newly launched OPPO Find X10 Pro Max, which runs one of MediaTek's latest chipsets.
The work combines network development from Optus and Nokia with a new MediaTek chipset and OPPO's commercial handset support. Low-band spectrum matters in Australia because it travels further across large distances and reaches deeper inside buildings, but it is a finite resource. Optus said around 15 per cent of connections in urban areas and 35 per cent in rural areas rely primarily on its low-band spectrum.
Optus chief technology officer Sri Amirthalingam said the work was about making limited spectrum go further for customers. He said Australia presents "a unique engineering challenge" and that Optus has "highly concentrated urban environments alongside enormous distances between communities". Amirthalingam said getting more performance from the 900MHz spectrum Optus already holds gives it another way to improve service where distance, buildings and geography make connectivity harder.
Nokia's Asia Pacific vice president of mobile infrastructure, Henrique Vale, said the next phase of 5G would be shaped "not only by new spectrum, but by finding smarter ways to unlock the full potential of the spectrum operators already have". He said the result could help deliver stronger connectivity deep inside buildings and across regional Australia.