Digi conducts first live 5G test in Hungary

DIGI Kft., the Hungarian branch of European telecommunications operator DIGI Communications N.V., live tested its first 5G base station at its Budapest headquarters on November 18, 2019.

“Recently, we have organized and conducted several laboratory tests for our future 5G network in Hungary. Yesterday, the project team successfully carried out the first real operating test of the base station installed in the DIGI headquarters in Budapest.

It is an important moment for the company’s evolution, considering that our entry into the mobile services segment (through DIGI’s own network) occurred almost six months ago. This step is a confirmation of the commitment we have made to our customers – to develop a modern network, with the latest technologies available in mobile communications, leveraging the proven expertise of our teams in the field of fixed services.” said Dragos Spataru, the General Manager of DIGI Kft. and Invitel.

Over the past few years, the company has invested in the development of the fiber optic network and the mobile telephony network, according to a strategy aimed at the early adoption of the most advanced technologies in the field of electronic communications, including 5G standards.

The first base station broadcasts on its own spectrum, already held in the 3,400 Mhz band, uses 20 MHz of spectrum and has been implemented with Ericsson partners. Basically, from this moment, any DIGI client using a 5G compatible mobile phone can test the capabilities of this service, in the proximity of the company’s headquarters. During the next months, the operator will test the technology on different base-stations in the network, and later, depending on the test results and the evolution of spectrum allocations, the implementation details will be established.

Hungary is the second market where DIGI has started developing its own 5G network. In June, the operator started the roll-out of the Digi Mobil 5G Smart network in Romania and broadcasting stations are already operational live in the capital Bucharest and in some cities in the country. The project started in cooperation with three major suppliers – Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei – for the implementation of 5G technology in the Romanian network.

DIGI included in its commercial offer both mobile communications services through the 5G network, which can be accessed by any Digi Mobil subscriber in Romania without additional costs, as well as two compatible terminals – Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G and Huawei Mate 20x 5G (64 GB RAM and 128 GB RAM).