Industry giants promise increased 5G upload speed

Vodafone, Xiaomi, and Qualcomm have tested new 5G technology which they claim will “pave the way for customers to get faster upload speeds and wider coverage with the arrival of new smartphones and devices expected during 2024.”

According to a statement, the first technical test of the “advanced 5G uplink technology” taking place in Europe saw the three companies achieving peak upload speeds of up to 273 megabits-per-second. Current broadband devices – again, according to the statement – have an average speed of 100 Mbps.

The new capacity is enabled by a development known as uplink carrier aggregation with Tx Switching, which works by combining multiple transmission channels, supported by the smartphone and the mobile antenna.

A spokesperson for the organisations said: “The test combined Vodafone’s new 5G Standalone networks in Germany and Spain with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform, and the next Xiaomi flagship smartphone.

“Better uplink capabilities will enable customers to upload their photos, videos and files to the cloud at almost double the speed possible today. This is important to meet the growing demand for cloud storage, video streaming, and augmented/virtual reality applications.”

Chief network officer of Vodafone, Alberto Ripepi, said: “We want our customers to be among the first anywhere in the world to benefit from this new 5G feature when it becomes available. That’s why we are working with key partners to lead the industry in pulling together and testing the necessary network, silicon chips and devices to turn it into a reality. All while driving a stronger vendor and developer ecosystem.”