Ericsson, Vivo, Qualcomm deliver 530Mbps in Brazil

Press release

By Ericsson

October 17, 2016

Vivo is the first Brazilian operator to deliver such performance using own spectrum assets over 2600MHz, 1800MHz and 700MHz bands in São Paulo metropolitan area

Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X16 LTE Modem, the world's first Gigabit Class LTE modem, supported the achievement of this milestone with the support of 256QAM and 4x4 MIMO features.

Vivo's subscribers in Brazil will be able to enjoy this level of experience as soon as first commercial smartphones supporting these technologies become available

Ericsson Networks Software 16B delivers extreme app coverage with industry's first Brazilian commercial LTE network supporting user download speeds greater than 530 Mbps

Vivo is the first Brazilian operator to deliver such performance using own spectrum assets over 2600MHz, 1800MHz and 700MHz bands in São Paulo metropolitan area

Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X16 LTE Modem, the world's first Gigabit Class LTE modem, supported the achievement of this milestone with the support of 256QAM and 4x4 MIMO features.

Vivo's subscribers in Brazil will be able to enjoy this level of experience as soon as first commercial smartphones supporting these technologies become available

Vivo is the first operator in Brazil to use their real spectrum assets in São Paulo city to enhance customer experience with the early introduction of Ericsson's (NASDAQ:ERIC) solution for LTE three carrier aggregation, in combination with 4x4 MIMO and 256QAM technologies to support data speeds greater than 530 Mbps. The demonstration was completed using a Snapdragon X16 LTE modem test device from Qualcomm Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated. The modem test device aggregated 35 MHz, aggregating bandwidth from the 2600MHz, 1800MHz and 700MHz bands.

Vivo has been investing in network quality and performance for many years, including spectrum assets allocated for LTE (45-50MHz), as well as investments in voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) and converged video services to improve both performance and efficiency of today's LTE technology, which will evolve to become part of 5G. Ericsson earlier announced new Ericsson Radio System software and hardware supporting up to 1 Gbps user peak rates and a hyper-scalable radio access network (RAN) architecture.

Eduardo Ricotta, Head of Customer Unit Brazil, Ericsson, said: "Our lasting partnership is based on mutual commitment to delivering network quality and performance. VIVO is one of the top ranked operators worldwide in terms of innovation, and Ericsson has been contributing to this achievement over the years. This is something that we are really proud of."

"We are delighted to work with VIVO and Ericsson to achieve improved download speeds, supported by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE modem," said Rafael Steinhauser, President, Qualcomm Latin America. "This milestone was achieved using 3x carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO and 256 QAM technologies, and delivers enhanced user experiences, such as very fast downloads of multimedia content over a mobile channel. This is an important step towards 5G, and strengthens our strategic relationship with Vivo."

With LTE subscriptions forecast to reach 4.3 billion by the end of 2021, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 percent, and increased data consumption per subscription, operators are challenged to efficiently scale their networks while ensuring great app coverage for their customers. Ericsson's newest hardware and software address LTE growth opportunities while supporting the operator's evolution to 5G.

A key component used is 4X4 MIMO (multiple input multiple output) which can double the number of unique data streams being transmitted to the user's smartphone, thereby enabling up to twice the capacity and data throughput;

LTE-A Carrier Aggregation enables operators to use spectrum more efficiently to deliver a better user experience to customers. The use of 256QAM enables higher peak rates to be achieved in good radio conditions, making it an ideal solution for indoor and outdoor small cell architectures.

Vivo has 73,3 million mobile customers by the end of the first semester and is the leading mobile operator in Brazil, with 29% of the market. In Latin America, the operator has begun rolling out high-speed data networks on LTE technology.

Ericsson is present today in all high traffic LTE markets including US, Japan, and South Korea, and is ranked first for handling the most global LTE traffic. In addition, forty percent of the world's total mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks. More than 270 LTE RAN and Evolved Packet Core networks have been delivered by Ericsson worldwide, of which 200 are live commercially.

Ericsson is involved in and leading all relevant technological initiatives related to network evolution toward 5G and beyond. We have Memorandums of Understanding for 5G cooperation signed with 26 operators. Adding vertical industries Ericsson is engaging with, the number is over 50.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Videos:

Launch: Delivering Extreme App Coverage

Delivering Extreme App Coverage with Gigabit LTE

Vivo, Brazil: Go with the flow

Product info: Delivering Extreme App Coverage

For media kits, backgrounders and high-resolution photos, please visit www.ericsson.com/press