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Singaporean operator trials Nokia’s new AirScale platform; reports 28% fall in Q3 profit.
Singapore’s StarHub this week revealed it achieved a connection speed of 4.3 Gbps in a test of potential 5G technology with Nokia.
The impressive throughput was reached using the Finnish vendor’s AirScale radio access platform – unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress – and centimetre-wave (cmWave) spectrum, so called because the wavelength of said spectrum, which is in the 3 GHz-30 GHz range, ranges between one and 10 centimetres.
"5G, while still a distance away, will become reality in the time to come. Through our ongoing trials of new technologies such as Nokia’s integrated AirScale solution, we are exploring how we can use 5G technologies to enrich the lives of our customers," said Chong Siew Loong, head of network engineering at StarHub, in a statement on Wednesday.
The test took place at StarHub’s headquarters, during which latency as low as 1 millisecond was recorded.
The combination of ultrafast throughput and ultra-low latency can support demanding services like augmented reality, virtual reality and e-health applications, StarHub said.
"Nokia AirScale allows service providers to lay the foundation for the programmable world of the future. It enables service providers to roll out best-in-class services and differentiate without significantly increasing their expenditure," said Nicolas Bouverot, head of Asia South at Nokia.
Q3 profit plummets
Separately, StarHub on Thursday reported third quarter net profit plunged 28% year-on-year to S$86 million (€56.06 million), as revenue fell to S$585 million from S$603 million, and service revenue declined to S$546 million from S$558 million.
The decline was driven by StarHub’s mobile division, which reported Q3 revenue of S$299.4 million, down from S$310.6 million a year ago. Its pay TV division saw revenue fall 3.7% to S$93.6 million, while fixed broadband revenues climbed 7.1% to S$54.7 million.
EBITDA fell to S$179 million from S$199 million a year earlier, while the operator’s EBITDA margin narrowed to 32.8% from 35.7%.
StarHub’s mobile customer base increased to 2.28 million from 2.18 million in Q3 2015.
