CSL, the mobile arm of PCCW-owned HKT, has announced the launch of LTE-Advanced after the company upgraded part of its 4G network in Hong Kong.
The cellco is using carrier aggregation across two 20MHz radio spectra on both the 1800-MHz and 2600-MHz bands to offer download speeds up to 300Mbps.
Starting from today, customers with compatible Cat 6 devices and smartphones can benefit from the increased speeds in select New Territories districts as well as the iSquare shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, and designated CSL shops.
LTE-A will be extended to the MTR's new West Island Line from December 28. In addition, the new MTR stations along that line will be powered by 1Gbps Wi-Fi on concourses and platforms.
In the next phase, the LTE-A network upgrade will cover other New Territories districts – Ma On Shan and Sai Kung – in early 2015.
S M Shuen, head of radio networks engineering and operations at HKT, said about one third of the company’s 4G network will be LTE-A ready by early 2015.
Shuen said CSL, which was acquired from Telstra by PCCW-HKT in May, is also integrating the radio networks of CSL and HKT by choosing the best sites from both networks in order to provide customers enhanced 4G/3G coverage.
As part of the network integration plan, CSL will upgrade the entire 4G network to LTE-A to support faster mobile broadband network speeds of up to 300Mbps by Q4, 2015, said Shuen.
The company will also upgrade CSL’s site transmission by using HKT 1Gbps fiber lines.
CSL, which first announced its plans for deployment of LTE-A in February at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, is the latest mobile carrier in Asia to launch the LTE-A 300Mbps service.
Earlier this month Singapore’s M1 kicked off a nationwide LTE-A network, following the footsteps of rival SingTel and other Asian operators like Telstra.