Portuguese mobile operator Optimus has selected Huawei to provide UMTS/LTE multi-frequency antennas for its LTE commercial network, the company announced today. The commercialization of Huawei's antennas in Portugal extends the current mobile network portfolio.

The coexistence of multi-format and multi-band technologies supporting GSM/UMTS/LTE networks has created great challenges for antenna deployment. With limited site space available, operators must choose multi-band antennas, which also provide efficient deployment and maintenance costs while meeting the technical requirements of the network rollout.

Using Huawei's multi-band (1800MHz/2100MHz/2600MHz) antennas, Optimus added LTE operation while maintaining the number of antennas, minimizing rental and infrastructure costs and retaining minimal visual impact. According to Huawei, tests on existing networks showed that its antennas not only save on deployment and maintenance costs but also effectively improve the system throughput, capacity and overall network performance.