Huawei and Optus complete 3G UTM trial

Telecommunications network vendor Huawei has completed a trial of its first 3G UMTS900 network with Optus.

The trial was carried out by Optus in the central west region of NSW using Huawei’s UMTS900 transmitters and a team of Huawei and Optus personnel.

UMTS900 is seen as an ideal frequency for sparsely populated areas, as a single UMTS900 base station provides a broader coverage than the 2100 frequency spectrum currently being operated by the majority of the world’s 3G GSM carriers, therefore reducing the cost and length of time of rollout.

Henry Calvert, director of mobile products at Optus said within three months of agreeing to the trial, Huawei and Optus built and tested a UMTS900 network.

“The trial involved a myriad of Optus and Huawei staff and is an achievement that we are very proud of. In particular, Huawei were able to deliver in the timeframe we required,” he said.

Optus is reviewing the UMTS900 technology as part of its future mobile strategy and believes that deploying the 900 MHz frequency band in parallel with the existing mature GSM900 network could result in swifter delivery to market in existing footprint areas and a reduction in costs when expanding to new areas.

Optus plans further technical trials of the UMTS900 network in the central west town of Dubbo over the coming months and is expected to make a decision on the technology later in 2007.

Huawei is one of the pioneers in the development of UMTS technology and have refined their solutions to re-use the existing GSM 900 frequencies and infrastructures, including base stations and antenna lines, helping carriers to reduce CAPEX and enabling speedier deployment of a network.