Vodafone Achieves First 5G Data Connection in Italy

5G trials clocked speeds of up to 2.7 Gbps

[Milan, Italy, November 7, 2017] Vodafone has achieved the first 5G data connection in Italy. The 5G trials were conducted by Vodafone in partnership with Huawei, which made available a radio base station using Massive MIMO technology.

It’s part of trials in Milan promoted by the Ministry for Economic Development. Vodafone, which was selected to conduct 5G trials in the Milan metropolitan area, used frequencies in the 3.7-3.8 GHz portion of spectrum made available by the Ministry.

The 5G data connection was achieved using an antenna located at the Vodafone Village in Milan, marking the start of the planned network rollout.

The success of the 5G trial represents a major step forward. This was a real live test demonstrating use of 5G Prototype equipment that already meets the current 3GPP standard, including Massive MIMO technology, which increases both capacity and coverage.

During the test, it was possible to appreciate the performance of the 5G network, reaching download speeds of more than 2.7 Gigabits per second, with a latency of just over a millisecond.