KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom Axiata Bhd and Maxis Bhd successfully conducted Southeast Asia’s first 5G Multi Operator Core Network (MOCN) trial, achieving peak speeds of more than 1.1Gbps in an outdoor environment at trial sites in Langkawi.
This reflects the commitment of both telcos in realising a seamless sharing experience on an active 5G infrastructure, the telcos said in a joint statement today.
Conducted in December 2019, the trial consisted of a Maxis 5G site at Seaview Hotel in Kuah and a Celcom 5G site at The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa, allowing both Celcom and Maxis users at both locations to access the 5G network hosted by the two companies as if they were on their home network.
The trial followed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Celcom and Maxis last November to explore Malaysia’s first active 5G Radio Active Network (RAN) sharing.
Moving forward, Celcom and Maxis plan to conduct further active RAN sharing trials using a 5G Standalone (5G SA) network by the first quarter of 2020.
Using MOCN – a RAN sharing mechanism that allows two different core networks to share the same RAN – both Celcom and Maxis can quickly extend their 5G coverage in Langkawi by leveraging each other’s existing 5G sites.
This demonstrates the feasibility of 5G infrastructure sharing to accelerate 5G when the spectrum is allocated for commercial usage.
It also demonstrates the rollout capability as well as agility from both parties in responding to technology advancement for the development of the nation’s digital ecosystem.
Celcom CEO Idham Nawawi said the successful 5G MOCN trial in its early stage demonstrates the viability of a more cost-efficient and coordinated 5G deployment in Malaysia.
Maxis CEO Gokhan Ogut said the company is happy with the trial results and is stepping up efforts in pursuit of an accelerated 5G deployment plan. – Jan 15, 2020 Bernama
