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As well as a 1Gbps breakthrough, Vodafone plans to invest €500m across its networks in Ireland over the next three years.
Vodafone claims to be Ireland’s first mobile operator to reach 1Gbps speeds on a live mobile network.
The speed was achieved on the live mobile network in Dublin by transmitting files to a mobile phone in real-life conditions.
The operator revealed it is also investing €500m in Ireland over the next three years across its mobile, broadband, fibre to the home, network infrastructure and enhanced customer care systems.
In November, we reported how Vodafone Ireland planned to invest €250m in a network and IT transformation programme to deliver its plan for the Gigabit Society.
1Gbps speed record achieved
Madalina Suceveanu, CTO of Vodafone Ireland. Image: Naoise Culhane Photography
The 1Gbps breakthrough was achieved using Ericsson radio and a Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE mobile test device.
Ahead of the onset of 5G, Vodafone is pursuing 1Gbps speed capabilities using its new 4G evolution network in Dublin.
The new 4G evolution speeds up information transfer rates by up to 30pc download and 50pc upload, with typical speeds of up to 300Mbps.
Vodafone is also trialling its new narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) network and plans to make it commercially available by summer 2017.
“Achieving gigabit speeds on our mobile network and the launch of NB-IoT in November 2016 are important milestones in Vodafone Ireland’s innovation journey,” said Madalina Suceveanu, CTO of Vodafone Ireland.
“We are preparing our mobile infrastructure for the future, which is helping us support Irish businesses to be at the forefront of connectivity, across both traditional mobile and connected machines.
“We are already in the process of preparing the wide-scale roll-out of our commercial NB-IoT network this coming summer, the launch of voice over 4G later on this year, as well as pushing forward with achieving gigabit speeds.
Suceveanu said that voice over 4G will provide ultra-high definition voice calls and a faster call set-up time.
She added that the company plans to increase its 4G network footprint to more than 95pc of Ireland’s population.
“This all drives and reinforces our vision for a Gigabit Society in Ireland.”
