Vodafone is trialing 5G  in partnership with Huawei and has achieved the first 5G data connection in Italy. The test utilized a radio base station using Massive MIMO technology. During the test, download speeds of more than 2.7 Gigabits per second were observed, with a latency of just over a millisecond.

It’s part of trials in Milan promoted by the Ministry for Economic Development. Vodafone, which was selected to conduct 5G trials in the Milan metropolitan area, used frequencies in the 3.7-3.8 GHz portion of spectrum made available by the Ministry.

The 5G data connection was achieved using an antenna located at the Vodafone Village in Milan, marking the start of the planned network rollout.

This was a real live test demonstrating the use of 5G Prototype equipment that already meets the current 3GPP standard, including Massive MIMO technology, which increases both capacity and coverage.