Good news for our readers from Italy. The leading telecom company in the country, Telecom Italia, along with Ericsson have already started deploying a new mobile network technology of 28 Mbps speeds in early 2009. The deployment will include the so called MIMO (Multiple Input and Multiple Output) technology and Milan will be the first Italian “ultra-broadband city,” enjoying speeds of up to 28 Mbps in download and 5.8 Mbps in upload.
From the official release:
Telecom Italia will be first in Italy to deploy live mobile broadband speeds of 28 Mbps with Ericsson’s mobile network technology. Tests in Telecom Italia’s mobile network will start early 2009 and initial deployment is planned in the city of Milan in June 2009. National coverage will follow in the second half of 2009.
As expected, not every part of the city/country will be able to use the maximum speeds. Actual download speeds can be less and will vary due to congestion, distance from the cell, local conditions, hardware, software and other factors. Still, it’s good to see these things rolling out.