Continuing to shape the way in which people enjoy the internet, Ooredoo has successfully upgraded 14 of its Home Broadband Network sites with massive multiple-input and multiple-output (Massive MIMO) in preparation for the roll-out of 5G. This new antenna technology which expands network capacity and output will enable multiple customers to connect to the same site location, enhancing their digital experience. Part of its ongoing expansion, Ooredoo has set plans to upgrade an additional 23 sites by the end of 2018 and many more to come in 2019.
While the planned upgrades will span the length and breadth of the country, the technology will mainly be rolled out in Muscat, Al Batinah, Al Wusta, Sharqiya, Dahira and Dakhlia.
Ahmed Al Abri, Acting Chief Technology Officer at Ooredoo said, “The introduction of Massive MIMO to our ‘supernet’ is a major step towards 5G evolution. We are already starting to see huge growth in the internet-of-things (IoT) and smart city initiatives. These innovative services and applications will depend heavily on the speed and capacity of next generation networks. This upgrade is part of our promise to provide Home Broadband customers with higher speeds, uninterrupted streaming, faster downloads, faster gaming and sharing, and an overall superior digital experience. Keeping more people in more places connected, these improvements will mean that things like streaming HD videos will be lightning fast.”
The most advanced solution available on 4G technology, the implementation of Massive MIMO is part of an evolution towards 5G. Using the next generation of wireless technology it will dramatically increase the speed at which data is transferred across the network to 100 times faster than cellular connections and 10 times faster than the speediest home broadband service.
The new technology was tested with achieved results which included a 50% improvement in downlink user speed, 30% increase in uplink user speed, 100% improvements in downlink and uplink cell speed and an 80% rise in the volume of traffic on the network. All of which essentially improves upload and download speeds as well as the network’s capacity to connect more customers.