O2 Czech Republic is launching its commercial 5G network next month, becoming the first operator in the market to achieve this milestone.
Last year, the operator conducted live 5G trials in the cities of Prague and Koline in the Central Bohemia region. Its 5G network currently covers 15% of the population in these cities, with around 50 base stations deployed.
“Our customers will be able to join 5G in the centre of Kolin and also in Prague in the Old and New Towns, Vinohrady, Nusle, Dejvice and Bubenec” said O2 technology director Jan Hruska.
O2’s 5G network will be delivered via the 3.7GHz band using Massive MIMO 32T32R and 256QAM technologies. The operator expects the network to be capable of achieving download and upload connection speeds of 600Mbps and 100MBps respectively, although Hruksa noted that: “if the conditions of the frequency auction allow it, we are ready to increase the available speeds and the percentage of coverage.”
O2 Czech Republic’s CEO Jindrich Fremuth added: “The new generation of mobile network will offer up to ten times the connection speed of a commonly available 4G network. However, 5G is not just about faster downloads. In real-world customer traffic, we now want to test how the network works under load and elements of smart cities and in other strategic areas for the economy.”
