Malaysian operator U Mobile showcased its 5G capabilities ahead of rolling out the country’s second 5G network, delivering average downloads rates of 597Mb/s during a trial across the 13.5km Penang Bridge using Huawei 5G-Advanced equipment.

The operator explained in a statement it addressed the challenge of offering seamless coverage on one of the world’s longest sea-crossing bridges by deploying Huawei’s Meta active antenna units, which use extremely large antenna arrays and beamforming algorithms to double antenna elements.

Sites are positioned at each end of the bridge, eliminating the need for a base station in the middle.

U Mobile stated the set-up improved edge user experience by more than 30 per cent.

During the trial users experienced minimum download rates of 120Mb/s and no dropped calls even at vehicle speeds of 80km/h.

U Mobile CTO Woon Ooi Yuen noted the trial demonstrated its ability to deploy the nation’s second 5G network “efficiently and effectively, ensuring seamless connectivity even in challenging environments”.

He added with 5G-Advanced, the operator would be able to provide future enterprise use cases along the bridge including road safety services, surveillance with AI capabilities and drones for emergency situations.