TIM claims 500 Mbps 4.5G Europe first

The artist formerly known as Telecom Italia has gone live with a 4.5G network that promises download speeds of 500 Mbps.

Punters in Rome, Palermo and Sanremo can now bask in wireless download speeds that most people can only dream about over their fixed broadband. How many over them ever get anywhere near half a Gig, however, remains to be seen, especially since only one phone – the Sony Xperia XZ – currently supports that flavor of 4G.

TIM’s 4.5G uses L-band – i.e. 1500 MHz – alongside new but unspecified coding and modulation techniques and antenna systems to increase spectral efficiency and enable this 4G on steroids. To make the magic happen a device needs to be running a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 with an X12 modem.

“Starting today, our customers will be able to browse on their smartphones at the top speeds available, enjoying for example 4K content on the move without having to compromise on quality. For TIM this represents another significant achievement in the development of offers moving towards 5G,” said Stefano Azzi, Head of Consumer at TIM.

“Thanks to the innovation of our services the user experience will be even more engaging and the solutions and applications proposed will allow customers to access TIMvision and TIMmusic, in addition to all other premium contents. Finally, by collaborating with the leading technological players, we are the first ones in Italy to offer our customers the latest generation devices with cutting-edge technological standards.”