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February 28, 2022
5 Min Read
Some of the more authoritative ranking organizations in Europe have unveiled their ratings for the end of 2021 and Sunrise UPC is bringing home the most 5G awards. Awards include the biggest and fastest 5G network, the fastest average 5G speeds and the highest 5G availability.
connect: The telecommunications magazine connect conducted again its famous and traditional mobile network test together with umlaut 5G network, and the Sunrise UPC network has won connect's "Outstanding" award the sixth year in a row.
OpenSignal: According to OpenSignal Switzerland 5G Experience Report November 2021, Sunrise UPC has registered in in average the fastest 5G speeds in both the uplink and downlink. It also provides the 5G network in Switzerland for a leading mobile gaming and video experience. Of the seven 5G awards OpenSignal has set up, only Sunrise UPC manages to win awards in all seven categories.
Opensignal also benchmarked the Global 5G Experience in the 5G Global Mobile Network Experience Awards 2021 in November 2021. The results show that the Sunrise UPC 5G network is also setting standards across Europe: The Sunrise UPC 5G network won the highest number of awards of all 5G networks in Europe (eight out of nine), which makes it one of the leading 5G networks in the world.
Why Is Sunrise UPC Such a Success? Network quality has proven to be a key factor for operators in Switzerland to win market shares in the saturated and very competitive market. As one of the first operators in Europe to launch 5G in such a capacity, Sunrise UPC has placed a strategic focus on relentlessly improving network quality. Since its 5G commercial debut in March 2019, Sunrise UPC has quickly expanded its Highspeed 5G coverage in the high bands (3.5-3.8 GHz) from 150 cities and towns to more than 1,000, and its Basis 5G coverage in the low bands (700-2600 MHz) from 0% to over 96% of the Swiss Population, making it one of the largest 5G network in Europe.
BladeAAU Pro Simplifies Network Construction, Helps Bring 5G to 96% of the Population
Sunrise UPC lags behind the incumbent in terms of its physical sites and another challenge is that over 90% of its sites are single-pole sites and many sites provide only limited space for antennas. A 5G network has to be built at the same site where 2G, 3G, and 4G networks have already been there. This makes antenna space, wind resistance, and tower load bearing major challenges to base station deployment.
To better address above challenges and meet market demand, Sunrise UPC opted for Huawei BladeAAU Pro in the early stages of its 5G deployment. This simplified solution integrates active and passive antennas as well as multiple frequency bands and radio access technologies into one box to simply deployment and packs as much into the limited antenna space. In addition to packing so many technologies into such a small form-factor, it features large bandwidth on all frequency bands and can be mounted at a high height with little wind resistance. It improves coverage, shortens site construction, and can flexibly adapt to various deployment scenarios.
C-band/Sub-3 GHz Dual-Band NR Improves 5G Camping Ratio and Delivers High-Speed 5G
C-band Massive MIMO has become an industry-wide pursuit following the rapid growth of 5G. C-band Massive MIMO can be co-deployed with 1.8 GHz at the same site and provides at least 10 times better the experience of 4G. Sub-3 GHz, on the other hand, can provide wider network coverage because of its low interference and path loss. Sunrise UPC makes C-band Massive MIMO a prerequisite for all extensive network construction and utilizes 900 MHz to compensate for the uplink coverage of C-band in indoor scenarios requiring in-depth coverage. NR with C-band and sub-3 GHz keeps users on 5G networks, delivering a high-speed 5G experience across the entire network and throughout services. The peak experienced speeds has reached almost 2 Gbps.
Joint 5GtoC and 5GtoH Development Brings Success to Sunrise UPC's Business
5GtoC: 5G High-Speed Packages for “Experience Upgrade”
Rapid deployment of 5G networks and rapid proliferation of 5G devices have enabled Sunrise UPC to release its 5G packages targeting and attracting a large number of postpaid subscribers. More than 50% of 5G subscribers use an iPhone in Switzerland, and as many iPhone users intend to upgrade to iPhone 13, Sunrise UPC leverages service differentiation based on this "experience upgrade" to deliver high-end 5G service experience to iPhone users.
5GtoH: TV+FWA Service Connects the Unconnected, Exploring Innovation with Ecosystem Partners
Elmar Grasser, CTO of Sunrise UPC, said Sunrise UPC offers fiber to the home (FTTH), hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC), and 5G FWA home broadband solutions. And when combined, these hybrid fiber network offerings make gigabit speeds available to more than 90% of homes across Switzerland and deliver home users a best-in-class experience. In addition to this, Sunrise UPC offers TV new with a FWA service. This high-quality TV service provides up to 240 channels and supports a maximum of six devices at the same time, attracting a large number of new users.
The 5G traffic is an important indicator for evaluating how comprehensive an operator's 5G operations are. With its joint 5GtoC and 5GtoH development strategy, Sunrise UPC leads Europe by hitting over 14% 5G traffic ratio. This means that user traffic is continuously retained on 5G networks with their end-to-end 5G network and user experience and improved operations. Ultimately, a 5G traffic ratio increase is a core indicator of 5G business success. As Elmar Grasser said, outstanding network quality is the basis for business success. To be first in 5G services, one must stay ahead of network quality.
This content is sponsored by Huawei.
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd
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