3 August, 2021, Shenzhen, China - ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile internet, together with the Yunnan Branch of China Telecom, has taken the lead in verifying the large-scale commercialization of 40MHz FDD NR on 2.1GHz frequency band. The verification indicates that 40MHz 2.1GHz networks can be applied to end-to-end commercial use and effectively improve 5G user service experiences. 

Based on the existing networks of China Telecom in Kunming, Yunnan Province, the 5G NR deployment is implemented on the network (2110-2150MHz) shared by China Telecom and China Unicom. The verification result shows that the 2.1GHz 40MHz network has excellent performance, with 5G peak downlink and uplink experience of up to 977Mbps and 438Mbps respectively. For the tested network, its uplink and downlink drive test results are also excellent, reaching 224Mbps and 415Mbps respectively.

In addition, the 2.1GHz 40MHz NR network is compatible with 20MHz and 40MHz terminal access, and performs well in key services including voice and data. The voice connection ratio reaches 100%, which satisfies the basic service requirements of 5G users. 

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has clearly divided the 2.1GHz 40 MHz frequency band (2110 -2150 MHz) for China Telecom and China Unicom to deploy 5G networks. 2.1GHz is a medium frequency band used for 4G deployment by China Telecom and China Unicom. Compared with 3.5GHz frequency band, 2.1GHz has coverage advantages and is an effective frequency band for implementing 5G wide coverage. 

With the background of the 5G network sharing between China Telecom and China Unicom, 2.1GHz frequency band will have 40MHz FDD spectrum bandwidth, which can further improve the service experiences of 5G users. China Telecom makes full use of the coverage and bandwidth advantages of 2.1GHz frequency band to accelerate 5G deployment in an efficient and economic manner to improve 5G network coverage and overall 5G user perception.

Moving forward, ZTE and China Telecom will continue to promote the large-scale commercial use of 2.1GHz NR with large bandwidth, and accelerate the deployment process of 5G networks. In conjunction with 3.5GHz frequency band, the Yunnan Branch of China Telecom will build a 5G network with excellent performance and optimal TCO while guaranteeing the service experiences and performance perception of 5G users.