Malaysian carriers Maxis and Huawei announced on Thursday that they have successfully conducted what they call the first 5G advanced technology trial in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
The 5G-Advanced trial was unveiled in a live demo at KLCC The Place in Kuala Lumpur. The demo included a live speed test demonstrating his 5G-Advanced’s ability to achieve peak downlink data speeds of up to 8 Gbps.
A demo booth at the event showcased the technology’s interactive applications, including low-latency live streaming of various views of Kuala Lumpur city centre, live 3D content and immersive augmented reality (AR) experiences.
Maxis and Huawei will showcase 5G Advanced Trials as part of the Malaysia Pavilion at Mobile World Congress (MWC) next week in Barcelona, Spain.
5G-Advanced has been standardized by 3GPP as Release 18. Key features of Release 18 (apart from faster data speeds) include enhanced uplink coverage, intelligent network automation (including AI/ML RAN), flexible spectrum, improved energy efficiency, and critical IoT use cases (including RedCap), and integration with non-terrestrial networks.
3GPP plans to freeze work on Release 18 next month.
“The potential of this technology is enormous as it enables intelligent solutions across industries and economies,” said Goh Seow Eng, CEO of Maxis. “We look forward to exploring this technology and developing solutions that will benefit industries and businesses and advance our nation’s digital ambitions.”
Also at the 5G Advanced Showcase, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the number of 5G subscribers in Malaysia was just over 10 million as of January 31, resulting in a market penetration rate of 29.9%.
Currently, Maxis and other Malaysian carriers offer 5G services through Digital Nasional Berhad, the country’s only 5G wholesale network operator. The government plans to license a second 5G wholesale network operator later this year.
