PARTNER FEATURE: Wind Tre is the Operator with the largest network scale in the Italian mobile communications market. It has been awarded several times with the best network in Italy and is going to launch commercial 5G network at scale recently.

Since December of 2016, Wind Tre and ZTE have jointly established a national wireless integration and upgrade project. Since then, the two parties have successfully achieved dual-network integration, the 4G network speed has increased by 250%, and the coverage rate has also been significantly improved, especially the indoor coverage rate. Wind Tre surpassed its competitors in just three years.

Customized Dual-Band AAU Helps Smooth Evolution

As the first year of 5G in 2020, many countries begin to deploy 5G networks commercially. Due to the high cost of 3.5GHz spectrum auctions, operators are looking for ways to quickly deploy 5G commercial networks while saving costs. Operators intend to adjust business strategies by making full advantage of each frequency band, while coexisting with all traditional spectrum technologies deployed in traditional networks.

Excluding the previously idle 20MHz TDD spectrum, and only 20MHz spectrum was obtained on 3.5GHz. ZTE responded quickly and provided Wind Tre with a customized and innovative 2.6GHz+3.5GHz dual-band AAU solution.

The solution support 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz at the same time, enabling one device to handle two frequency bands. 2.6GHz+3.5GHz dual-band AAU equipment supports two frequency bands to share an antenna array composed of 192 arrays, saving antenna space and helping Wind Tre smooth evolution from 4G to 5G.

DSS Achieve 5G Nationwide Coverage

We all know that 5G NR has large bandwidth, so deploying 5G on 3.5G is undoubtedly the best choice. But in the early stage of 5G era, 5G has a light load and the short coverage, 3.5G NR is not the most cost-effective choice. ZTE DSS solution( Dynamical Spectrum Sharing) is the best choice for Wind Tre deployment on Sub3G. It not only guarantees the user experience of 2/3/4G in traditional networks, but also provides the best cost-effectiveness and fastest speed to achieve nationwide 5G coverage.

Commercial deployment of 5G sites has already begun, it is expected to cover 70% users by the end of 2020, and Wind Tre is expected to be the first operators in Italy to achieve national 5G coverage in the first quarter of 2021.

COVID-19 Makes Cooperation More Firm

The sudden outbreak of the 2020 epidemic has plunged the world into a crisis, and Italy is no exception. For the sake of life safety, everyone stays at home and isolates themselves. Without entertainment and social networking, the traffic continues to break new high, in order to keep Best Network Position of Wind Tre, ZTE has launched a task called“Active Care”to ensure the quality and stability of Wind Tre network.

Even in the most difficult moment of the epidemic, ZTE still successfully helped Wind Tre win the“Fastest Mobile Network Award(Q1-Q2)”. And in the P3 test in the first half of 2020, Wind Tre still keep its leading position in the overall score, creating the best quality 2/3/4G network and setting the benchmark for UniRAN boutique networks.

Since the cooperation in 2016, ZTE has helped Wind Tre achieve the goal of an excellent Italian operator in just three years and maintain steady growth in operating performance. In the future, Wind Tre and ZTE will continue to cooperate sincerely on 5G projects to achieve a win-win future.