Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL), the 50/50 joint venture set up by Everything Everywhere and Three back in 2007 to manage and deliver the combined 3G access networks of the two companies, has signed with Virgin Media Business to be the first company to roll out Virgin’s IEEE Synchronous Ethernet (Sync-E) solution, that is a standard for distribution of frequency over Ethernet links.
The deployment will enable MBNL to support the explosion in data traffic and lay the foundations for a transition towards 4G.
Customers of Everything Everywhere and Three will benefit from a better mobile experience and improved existing 3G services.
Over the eight years of the contract, Virgin Media Business will build 14 regional aggregation networks across the UK to enhance MBNL’s bandwidth capacity. The high performance network will give consumers an even better mobile experience, allowing them to push their 3G enabled functionalities from video calling through to mobile TV to the limits.
The groundbreaking technology is set to be the UK’s only synchronous Ethernet mobile backhaul service. The first phase of deployment will see MBNL harness the power of the one Gigabit per second Ethernet service, ensuring that mobile data users will have continuous access to the high bandwidth network. Everything Everywhere and Three will benefit from the increased capacity, enabling them to better transport the data that their combined 35.2 million customers consume when accessing social networking sites, mobile video, mobile music, the mobile internet and applications.