After a successful test, which was conducted at the Optus Lab in Sydney, Optus says it plans to deploy the multi-operator 5G Ericsson Radio Dot System at indoor venues, such as sporting venues, multi-story buildings and shopping areas across Australia. The mobile network operator will support the wideband 3.5 GHz spectrum of all Australian mobile operators, which will share the total cost of ownership.
Ericsson said that Optus was one of the first operators to test the high-capacity wideband technology. When deployed, this system will drive operational efficiencies by providing high-speed, ultra-low latency, and improved 5G reliability to end users, according to Ericsson.
“This [5G Radio Dot System] will enable customers from various communications service providers, including Optus, to receive the indoor mobile phone coverage with the same quality, when the service providers connect their base station equipment to the multi operator radio dot system as well,” said Daniel Ode, Ericsson’s Head of Global Customer Unit, Singtel.
The Ericsson Radio Dot System consists of the Radio Dot 4455, Indoor Radio Unit (IRU) 1649 and Indoor Connect 8855, which enable multi-operator network sharing with different vendors. Optus will also transition to the new IRU 8850 once it is available as part of network architecture evolution, which will reduce the number of IRUs by half.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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