Cohere lauds result of Vodafone test in Spain

Software vendor Cohere Technologies claimed its universal spectrum multiplier (USM) product had the potential to improve 5G capacity by up to 50 per cent following a test with Vodafone in the Spanish city of Ciudad Real.

The field test in the dense urban area comprised indoor and outdoor environments and built on a laboratory demonstration conducted in 2021. Its latest trial used 10MHz of spectrum in the 2.1GHz band. 

“Based on the performance of the USM software in the trial using multiple handsets, when the software is turned on in low-band or mid-band spectrum, it provided a boost in capacity of up to 50 per cent”, Cohere Technologies stated.

The company’s software is designed to improve the spectral efficiency of RAN networks, providing a boost to users connected to the same mobile cell site without the need for specific devices, radios or antennas.

Vodafone Group head of open RAN Paco Martin said it had “been working with Cohere Technologies for a long time and we’re extremely pleased to see these promising early results obtained in a real-life urban network, which exceeded our expectations”.

Cohere Technologies CEO Ray Dolan added following the test it aimed to “make these benefits available to operators globally”.

The company is financially backed by Bell Ventures and Telstra Ventures, and conducted trials with their mobile arms along with Deutsche Telekom, among others.