Italian operator Linkem has turned to LTE to deploy mobile connectivity across Rome as part of a fixed wireless access network.
The company uses fibre as the backbone of its network before deploying LTE at 3.5GHz for the last mile.
It said only two households out of three in Rome have active fixed or wireless access. For high speed services, only one out of nine households subscribes to the relevant technology.
Linkem is aiming to reach 1.4 million households with its fixed wireless access network and is working with ZTE on the project. It is planning to cover households in the centre of Rome and across its suburbs.
Davide Rota, CEO of Linkem, said: “Rome is now our main technological and market challenge. The LTE radio technology, that is the 4G we are using on 3.5GHz licensed frequencies, makes up a reliable and more efficient infrastructure than any wired solution. This also allows us to be fast in covering the territory and to maintain our service at reasonable costs.
“It is the ideal choice to provide a quality service to customers and to be able to manage an ever increasing traffic volume but, above all, it is the correct foundation on which new services can be devised.”Â
Linkem has operated in Italy for 15 years and covers more than 50 percent of the population. The telco has 400,000 subscribers.
It will formally launch the service at an event this evening (3 October) at Rome’s Historical Museum of the Army Corps of Engineers, where Guglielmo Marconi’s first radio is housed.