Vodafone UK and Swedish vendor Ericsson have reportedly begun the deployment of a compact active-passive antenna in the UK to bring ‘greater 5G capacity, coverage and performance without adding to antenna footprint’.
According to Ericsson, its Interleaved AIR 3218 combines an antenna-integrated radio and multiband passive antenna technology in one single enclosure, meaning additional high-performing 5G capacity can be added with no additional antenna footprint. It is claimed that in using a single antenna footprint and Massive MIMO technology, Vodafone UK will leverage the larger bandwidth of mid-band spectrum to increase 5G capacity and deliver enhanced mobile broadband experiences. Further, it has been suggested that combining the technologies into a single unit will also help improve network efficiency and reduce deployment complexity.
Commenting, Ker Anderson, Head of Radio and Performance, Vodafone UK, said: ‘5G is the UK’s digital future, but we should never underestimate how difficult it is to deliver a future-proofed network at scale across the length and breadth of the UK. Working in partnership with Ericsson, we are constantly exploring new ways to accelerate this transformation, and this is another example of where innovation is delivered through collaboration.’
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