AIS and ZTE will launch a 5G innovation center as a research collaboration and joint 5G innovation hub
Chinese retailer ZTE has announced that it has signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Thai Carrier Advanced Info Services (AIS).
Under the terms of the agreement, ZTE will be AIS’s strategic partner to upgrade to key technologies such as 5G.
In addition, AIS and ZTE will launch a 5G innovation center as a research collaboration and joint 5G innovation hub for both infrastructure and solutions. The 5G research center is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year.
AIS CEO Somchai Lertsutiwong said, “We are a digital life service provider that focuses on unlocking digital technologies like 5G, an important infrastructure for building the country’s capacity in the digital economy. “It brings to AIS customers, the Thai public and the vast experience of various industries and the potential for our investment in providing smart services.”
“We are always confident that 5G will impact transformation in the near future, from consumer behavior to the social context and the growth of Thailand’s digital economy,” the executive added.
ZTE CEO Xu Jiang said: “We will continue to innovate in 5G technological solutions and applications, and work with AIS to jointly explore the enormous potential of 5G networks in the age of digital economy.”
AIS is currently focusing on expanding its 5G network to cover 77 provinces in Thailand. Carrier’s 5G network has now reached 78% of the population, with the goal of reaching 85% by the end of this year.
In March 2022, AIS, Qualcomm and ZTE announced that they had claimed the world’s first 5G NR-DC (new radio dual connectivity) as a showcase in the field of 2.6 GHz and 26 GHz, with 8.5 Gbps peak downlink speed and 2.17 Gbps peak uplink speed. Has achieved. Speed with a single mobile device. ZTE noted that this collaboration combines sub-6 and 5G mmWave frequencies.
AIS Spectrum won the auction using 5G NSA (non-standalone) service in February 2020 using 700 MHz, 2.6 GHz and 26 GHz bandwidth, followed by 5G SA in July 2020 in collaboration with Huawei.
AIS’s subscriber base has reached about 44.6 million subscribers, including 2.8 million 5G subscribers, representing 6.3% of its total user base. AIS has already set up about 20,000 5G base stations across the country.
In July 2021, AIS partnered with Chinese smartphone maker Vivo to test 5G standalone (SA) networks in Thailand. The tests were conducted at the bank and used a vivo V21 5G smartphone, which, according to the companies, achieved impressive high speeds of connection.
