Vodafone invests €12 million in environment friendly network
Vodafone Malta - together with its technology partner Nokia Siemens Networks - has completed the upgrading of its Radio network to offer download speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps in selected areas and country wide download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps. Furthermore, the introduction of HSUPA technology has also increased the upload speeds, now reaching up to 2Mbps.
This makes the Company the first network operator in Malta to roll out a technology that supports faster uploading speeds and higher data speeds for the future and for prospective radio technologies known as HSPA+.
“This roll out means that we are now the fastest mobile network on the Island with the greenest credentials,” said Inaki Berroeta, CEO, Vodafone Malta Ltd. “We have used this commercial opportunity to step up our sustainability indicators and reduce our carbon emissions, in line with Vodafone Group’s wide-ranging mechanisms to implement best-practice sustainability leadership. This new investment will lessen our direct impact on the environment whilst ensuring higher capacity and better user-experience for the benefit of our customers.”
“Vodafone Malta has year after year invested up to €10million in order to ensure that our customers benefit from the best network experience on the islands. This recent €12 million upgrade investment in our 3G Network has enabled us to be the first in Malta to introduce download speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps, whilst completing country wide coverage for speed of up to 7.2Mbps. We anticipate that by mid 2010 we will have 14.4 deployed country-wide. Furthermore we have enhanced our network with HSUPA technology enabling upload speeds of up to 2Mbps,” said Sandro Pisani, Head of Technology at Vodafone Malta. “The added benefit of this investment is that the energy efficiency of the new infrastructure is higher than that of its predecessor. We estimate that our radio network energy consumption will be reduced by approximately 25% resulting in less carbon emission.”
“We are launching an introductory offer for customers who would like to experience higher data speeds. The offer includes the new Vodafone PRO Internet Key together with a higher data bundle,” said Alison Ellul, Data Marketing Executive at Vodafone Malta. “Just to give you an example; with higher mobile data speeds, customers will be able to download a 3-minute song in about 10 seconds or upload a 5MB photo album onto Flickr in 40 seconds”.
“Nokia Siemens Networks has a long history of partnership with the Vodafone Group and Vodafone Malta. This upgrade is yet another step towards strengthening our successful cooperation,” said Sampsa Lahtinen, Head of Vodafone Customer Business Team at Nokia Siemens Networks. “The Nokia Siemens Networks compact, award winning energy efficient Flexi base station will enable Vodafone Malta to manage the growing traffic and also to ensure improved customer experience in the face of the increasing smart device penetration.”
Tests across Vodafone’s global partners have also regularly shown an increase in download speeds plus a decrease in round trip times, both improving by around 20%.
