Wind Tre, ZTE Complete 4.5G Network Project

Italian operator Wind Tre and partner ZTE have announced the completion of a project to roll out a 4.5G network throughout Italy. The Chinese vendor has installed some 20,000 ‘5G-ready’ transmission sites in over 100 provinces all over the country under the so-called ‘Super Rete’ project, allowing customers with compatible phones to reach speeds of up to 1Gbps thanks to carrier aggregation and 4×4 Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) technologies.

Wind Tre last year pledged to continue working with ZTE on its network upgrade after the US Commerce Department lifted its trade ban on the Chinese multinational in July 2018, even after signing a new vendor agreement with Ericsson. The Italian subsidiary of ZTE last year opened a 5G Innovation and Research Centre in the central Italian city of L’Aquila, part of a commitment to invest EUR 500 million in the country over the next 5 years.―Telecompaper