On 13 May, Vodafone and Huawei declared that Vodafone UK’s 4G service using its 4G 2.6 GHz spectrum on a small cell system is now successfully deployed in Huawei’s UK headquarters. It gives employees and visitors 4G data speeds of up to 82 Mbps downlink and 42 Mbps uplink.
The 4G LTE TDD service launch, using Huawei’s ‘LampSite’ LTE 2.6, was witnessed by Vodafone UK’s CTO, Fergal Kelly, along with members of his team.
Created in partnership between the Vodafone and Huawei companies’ technology and innovation teams, Huawei will continue to develop the technology with plans for Vodafone UK to offer the Lampsite technology to its medium and large business customers at a later date.
Statement by Fergal Kelly, CTO of Vodafone UK, “I am delighted to see 2.6Ghz in action on small cell and the impressive data speeds it offers. I’m also impressed with the rapid response from Huawei to this innovation challenge from Vodafone. One year to the day from initial discussion to live product is fantastic and such pace of innovation will be invaluable to Vodafone as we continue to build out the UK’s strongest network.”
President of Huawei’s small cell and Wifi product line, Dr. Zhou Yuefeng, stated that “We are totally aligned with our customer’s Enterprise market needs; this solution is a result of our key joint innovations with Vodafone and is designed with the technology and business requirements of our valued customers in mind.”
Huawei’s UK headquarters was established in London in 2001 and moved to Basingstoke in 2003. Huawei currently has 650 employees in the UK. This year, Huawei announced plans to double its UK workforce over the next three years to 1,000 workers. Huawei has received an excellent response from the market and will continue to expand its investment in the UK in the coming years. Key partners include BT, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, O2, Three / Hutchinson 3G, Talk Talk, Tesco Mobile, Virgin Media, Sky, and Tech Data; Huawei is planning to invest much and more in the UK’s market.
Officials say, by the end of 2011, Huawei invested over £150 million in the UK. Keep watching, Huawei will how to exploit the UK market.
