Ufone, Huawei win GLOMO award

KARACHI: Ufone 4G and Huawei won the GSMA GLOMO award for the category ‘Best Mobile Innovation for Emerging Markets’ at the Mobile World Congress for groundbreaking solution of Microwave SuperHub, a statement said on Monday.

The global first-ever trial and commercial deployment of the SuperHub feature was done in Ufone network during Q4 2023 enhancing the spectral efficiency of the microwave spectrum.

Microwave spectrum, a critical asset in today's digital landscape, demands efficient utilization to meet the ever-growing demands of wireless technologies, as the challenges facing microwave backhaul networks have intensified, particularly in emerging markets such as developing countries with lesser optical fiber footprints.

In response to these challenges, Huawei and Ufone 4G joined forces & unveiled the groundbreaking SuperHub solution. Designed to overcome the hurdles posed by limited spectrum resources, spatial constraints and frequency acquisition difficulties, SuperHub has enabled Ufone to maximize microwave spectrum reuse with unprecedented efficiency.

This was made possible by reuse of same microwave frequency channel across multiple links at aggregation site with a spatial separation as low as 20 degrees. Ufone recorded a remarkable 50 percent spectrum saving without any compromise on quality.

“We are absolutely delighted that Global Mobile (GLOMO) Awards, which are the industry’s most prestigious accolade with over 200 independent judges and 30 awards across 6 categories, have recognized the joint contributions of Ufone and Huawei in finding an innovative solution to optimizing microwave spectral efficiency, enhancing capacity and reducing interference. This advancement in global backhaul connectivity represents a paradigm shift in how terrestrial microwave networks will be built in future, and we are proud to be the front-runner in this journey,” Jafar Khalid, group chief technology and information officer, PTCL and Ufone 4G said.