PARTNER FEATURE: Some of the more authoritative ranking organizations in Europe have unveiled their ratings for the end of 2021 and Sunrise UPC is bringing home the most 5G awards. Awards include the biggest and fastest (in combination) 5G network, the fastest average 5G speeds (Up- and Download) and the highest 5G availability.

connect: The telecommunications magazine connect conducted again its famous and traditional mobile network test together with umlaut (part of Accenture, a global, full-service, cross-industry, end-to-end company that offers advisory and engineering services). The result shows that Sunrise UPC now runs Switzerland’s biggest and fastest (in combination) 5G network, and the Sunrise UPC network has won connect’s “Outstanding” award the sixth year in a row.

OpenSignal: According to OpenSignal (the independent global standard for understanding the true state of the world’s mobile networks based on measurements of real user experience) Switzerland 5G Experience Report November 2021, Sunrise UPC has registered in in average the fastest 5G speeds in both the uplink and downlink. It also provides the 5G network in Switzerland for a leading mobile gaming and video experience. Of the seven 5G awards OpenSignal has set up, only Sunrise UPC manages to win awards in all seven categories.

Opensignal also benchmarked the Global 5G Experience in the «5G Global Mobile Network Experience Awards 2021» in November 2021. The results show that the Sunrise UPC 5G network is also setting standards across Europe: The Sunrise UPC 5G network won the highest number of awards of all 5G networks in Europe (eight out of nine), which makes it one of the leading 5G networks in the world.

  • Why Is Sunrise UPC Such a Success?

Sunrise UPC continues to build the highest quality 5G network in Europe, with wide coverage and high speed.

Network quality has proven to be a key factor for operators in Switzerland to win market shares in the saturated and very competitive market. As one of the first operators in Europe to launch 5G in such a capacity, Sunrise UPC has placed a strategic focus on relentlessly improving network quality. Since its 5G commercial debut in March 2019, Sunrise UPC has quickly expanded its Highspeed 5G coverage in the high bands (3.5-3.8 GHz) from 150 cities and towns to more than 1,000, and its Basis 5G coverage in the low bands (700-2600 MHz) from 0% to over 96% of the Swiss Population, making it one of the largest 5G network in Europe.

  • BladeAAU Pro Simplifies Network Construction, Helps Bring 5G to 95% of the Population

Sunrise UPC lags behind the incumbent in terms of its physical sites and another challenge is that over 90% of its sites are single-pole sites and many sites provide only limited space for antennas. A 5G network has to be built at the same site where 2G, 3G, and 4G networks have already been there. This makes antenna space, wind resistance, and tower load bearing major challenges to base station deployment. And it can take months or even years to get authorities’ approval for changes such as an antenna length change. To build a new 5G network involves extensive, complex, and time-consuming reconstruction of its antennas.

To better address above challenges and meet market demand, Sunrise UPC opted for Huawei BladeAAU Pro in the early stages of its 5G deployment. This simplified solution integrates active and passive antennas as well as multiple frequency bands and radio access technologies into one box to simply deployment and packs as much into the limited antenna space. In addition to packing so many technologies into such a small form-factor, it features large bandwidth on all frequency bands and can be mounted at a high height with little wind resistance. It improves coverage, shortens site construction, and can flexibly adapt to various deployment scenarios. It is estimated that Sunrise UPC has spent significantly less time constructing these sites in some cities than they would otherwise, given the different complex frameworks for authority approvals in various regions of Switzerland. This has no doubt helped greatly in their achievement as Switzerland’s leading 5G network operator.

  • C-band/Sub-3 GHz Dual-Band NR Improves 5G Camping Ratio and Delivers High-Speed 5G

C-band Massive MIMO has become an industry-wide pursuit following the rapid growth of 5G. C-band Massive MIMO can be co-deployed with 1.8 GHz at the same site and provides at least 10 times better the experience of 4G. Sub-3 GHz, on the other hand, can provide wider network coverage because of its low interference and path loss. Sunrise UPC makes C-band Massive MIMO a prerequisite for all extensive network construction and utilizes 900 MHz to compensate for the uplink coverage of C-band in indoor scenarios requiring in-depth coverage. NR with C-band and sub-3 GHz keeps users on 5G networks, delivering a high-speed 5G experience across the entire network and throughout services. The peak experienced speeds has reached almost 2 Gbps. According to OpenSignal, Sunrise UPC has achieved the highest average 5G speeds in Switzerland, with a 199 Mbps downlink and 39.3 Mbps uplink.

  • Joint 5GtoC and 5GtoH Development Brings Success to Sunrise UPC’s Business

The 5G traffic is an important indicator for evaluating how comprehensive an operator’s 5G operations are. Sunrise UPC’s 5G traffic ratio exceeds 14%;that is, its 5G networks carry more than 14% of its entire mobile traffic. This is a significant milestone considering the strict electromagnetic field (EMF) thresholds in Switzerland (10 times stricter than recommended in Europe). Initially, the C-band power of Sunrise UPC was limited to no more than approx. 10% of the international standard values by strict EMF regulations. However, a statistic correction factor of up to 10 dB can be applied to the max. ERP (Effective Radiation Power) of adaptive antennas with more than 8 subarrays. At the 2021 Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) in October, Elmar Grasser, CTO of Sunrise UPC, pointed out that 5G carries more than 14% of the traffic in Switzerland. According to Sunrise UPC, 5G traffic continues to increase quickly .

  • 5GtoC: 5G High-Speed Packages for “Experience Upgrade”

Rapid deployment of 5G networks and rapid proliferation of 5G devices have enabled Sunrise UPC to release its 5G packages targeting and attracting a large number of postpaid subscribers. More than 50% of 5G subscribers use an iPhone in Switzerland, and as many iPhone users intend to upgrade to iPhone 13, Sunrise UPC leverages service differentiation based on this “experience upgrade” to deliver high-end 5G service experience to iPhone users. In response, a large number of iPhone users have made the upgrade and upgraded their packages accordingly. This has expanded a lucrative section of Sunrise UPC’s user base and supported the growing number of postpaid mobile users.

  • 5GtoH: TV+FWA Service Connects the Unconnected, Exploring Innovation with Ecosystem Partners

5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is now capable of providing high-bandwidth wireless broadband services with huge capacity. Therefore, FWA has been used widely to extend connections to the unconnected, increase the speed of broadband services, enable fiber-like experience and Sunrise UPC took the initiative to provide 5G FWA services for residential and enterprise users in areas not covered by fast landline connections, enabling homes and small- and medium-sized enterprises to access high-speed Internet services over the air.

Elmar Grasser said Sunrise UPC offers fiber to the home (FTTH), hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC), and 5G FWA home broadband solutions. And when combined, these hybrid fiber network offerings make gigabit speeds available to more than 90% of homes across Switzerland and deliver home users a best-in-class experience. In addition to this, Sunrise UPC offers TV new with a FWA service. This high-quality TV service provides up to 240 channels and supports a maximum of six devices at the same time. Sunrise UPC has also introduced exclusive innovative services such as Apple Music and 4K cloud gaming, attracting a large number of new users.

With its joint 5GtoC and 5GtoH development strategy, Sunrise UPC leads Europe by hitting over 14% 5G traffic ratio. This means that user traffic is continuously retained on 5G networks with their end-to-end 5G network and user experience and improved operations. Ultimately, a 5G traffic ratio increase is a core indicator of 5G business success. As Elmar Grasser said, outstanding network quality is the basis for business success. To be first in 5G services, one must stay ahead of network quality. In addition to good 5G networks, Sunrise UPC also boasts a strong fixed network strategy. Combining this strategy and 5G FWA, Sunrise UPC is given a competitive edge, providing a unique hybrid fiber network infrastructure in Switzerland and benchmark setting network services to attract more users.