CSL leads the groundbreaking LTE roaming capabilities
World-first inside look at Mobile Asia Congress 2011
Hong Kong, 16 November 2011 — CSL Limited will unveil the world’s first public demonstration of LTE roaming’s new ‘Local Breakout’ (LBO) capabilities for visitors to the Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong on 16 and 17 November 2011. The demonstration showcases the breakthroughs achieved with CSL’s innovative LTE technology, as well as the results of CSL’s LTE roaming trial, conducted during the congress using the commercial LTE networks of Telstra in Australia and CSL in Hong Kong.
During the testing period, conducted in cooperation with Telstra Corporation, various data services including high definition multi-party video conferencing, bandwidth-intensive video streaming and data speed benchmarking against legacy GSM/3G roaming were trialed with impressive results.
During the trial, CSL saw that the LTE roaming experience has the potential to be up to five times the speed of existing 3G roaming, and a reduction of more than 90% latency, as in the case of using LTE locally. This represents a significantly improved service quality and an enhanced experience for LTE roamers.
The improved experience is achieved by new technologies at the radio and core network like eNode B and Evolved Packet Core EPC, and in coordination with our device vendor partner ZTE.
Users who marvel at the blistering data speeds and seamless mobile internet experience of a 4G LTE network service would naturally like to be able to take that same level of service with them anywhere in the world. Yet until now, even though other operators have adopted LTE technologies, a lack of interoperability between differing networks and spectrum bands has made 4G roaming, or the lack of it, a technical headache for operators.
Joseph O’Konek, CEO of CSL Limited, said, “CSL is the only 4G LTE provider in Hong Kong, so naturally one of our top priorities is to linkup our LTE service with our many roaming partners worldwide. CSL is leading the way in making unfettered LTE roaming a reality and is aiming to have this technology commercially available in 2012. This latest development in CSL’s roaming technology means we will be putting full quality LTE service in the hands of customers wherever they go.”
Under existing roaming systems, any and all data the customer wants to transmit or receive has to go via their home network instead of using the facilities of the territory they are actually in. LBO is able to offload data traffic to the local network, effectively making the local system their home network, which raises data speeds, reduces latency, and overall provides better service quality.
LTE will provide operators the choice of home routing or LBO for roaming customers. Home routing will be suitable for data applications such as services exclusive to the home operator provided services and corporate VPNs, while LBO is a better solution for bandwidth-intensive uses such as internet browsing and file sharing.
The GSM Associations Next Generation Roaming and Interoperability (NGRAI) project team have been working since November 2008 to ensure all specifications for LTE roaming are included in the existing permanent reference document. This process was completed in November 2009.
About CSL
CSL is Hong Kong’s first and leading mobile network operator. It is the only mobile company in the world to operate with a distinctive multi-brand strategy providing customer-centric services through the brands: 1O1O, one2free, New World Mobility and a number of Pre-paid service brands.
It operates a world-class GSM / WCDMA and unique UMTS 900 network in Hong Kong and launched the world’s first 4G LTE/DC-HSPA+ network in November 2010, through which it offers comprehensive mobile and broadband services to both local and international customers. CSL also supports customers across the world, as the leading roaming operator in Hong Kong providing unmatched global multi-media connectivity through over 540 mobile operator partners around the world. For more information, please visit www.hkcsl.com.
CSL is a subsidiary of Telstra Corporation Limited, Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company (www.telstra.com).
For media enquiry, please contact:
CSL Limited
Erin Godfrey
Tel: +852 2883 4883
Mob: +852 6055 8627
Email: erin.godfrey@hkcsl.com
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
Angel Cheng
Tel: +852 2927 8812
Mob: +852 9736 4321
Email: acheng@waggeneredstrom.com
