In a partnership with TM and ZTE Corporation, U Mobile showcased its 5G infrastructure in three different locations in Langkawi island on 18 January 2020. Each showcase also saw the company’s collaborative efforts with partners such as DoctorOnCall (DOC), MEDCOM and HTC Vive, which demonstrated 5G’s effectiveness in services such as remote doctor consultation, emergency medical situations, as well as virtual tourism and gaming.
The first location demonstrating U Mobile’s 5G live use is the Langkawi International Airport, where they showcased a 5G enabled medical consultation booth by DOC, in association with MEDCOM. The company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Woon Ooi Yuen explained that the connectivity is made possible by the recently announced shared infrastructure between U Mobile and TM.
The DOC booth allowed patients to remotely consult a doctor from different location via video conference in real-time. Besides the video call, 5G enabled medical instruments by MEDCOM are also provided in the booth which assists the doctor to determine the patient’s symptoms, as well as recommending necessary treatments. DOC director Maran Virumandi says that the service aims to help Malaysian citizens to remotely seek real-time medical consultation, especially those located in rural areas or locations that lack clinics with certain medical specialists.
U Mobile then demonstrated the new infrastructure’s capabilities in gaming and virtual tourism at Berjaya Resort Langkawi, with the help of an on-site 5G cell tower provided by ZTE. The showcase saw 5G’s potential in delivering real-time, high quality video streaming and low-latency VR gaming via HTC Vive devices. U Mobile’s CTO also demonstrated the infrastructure’s speed, with the download peaking up to 1.35Gbps and upload at 91Mbps. Woon further explained that their 5G service is running on NSA 3500Mhz + 100Mhz bandwidth, riding on the 1800Mhz OG spectrum.
The final demonstration is held at Langkawi’s Sultanah Maliha Hospital, where the company showcased the 5G enabled MEDCOM Mobile device for emergency medical situations. While it slightly shows similarities to the earlier presentation with DOC, MEDCOM’s service is catered more towards hospitals as a method to diagnose and treat patients with the help of remote medical specialists and personnel. The device is portable, and includes necessary medical instruments that provides a patient’s real-time data readings and live video conferencing.
Emergency and Trauma Department head Dr Roshidah Rosman stated that the MEDCOM Mobile had played an important role in a recent pediatric case, which successfully helped the hospital to treat a patient with the assistance from medical specialists posted in Penang. She added that the technology and the 5G infrastructure is very practical in instances such as emergencies, which not only helps to provide an early diagnosis to patients but indirectly increasing their chances of survival as well.
These 5G showcases by U Mobile provided an early insight to how the new infrastructure could benefit in various fields and instances. This is thanks to its ultra-fast download and upload speeds that could provide seamless real-time high quality video and audio steaming, among other things.
CEO Wong Heang Tuck stated in a Q&A session that U Mobile is hoping to roll out its 5G service sometime in mid 2020 with the aim of providing the infrastructure to not only its users, but to local industries as well. Additionally, ZTE managing director Steven Ge says that company is hoping to help accelerate 5G accessibility in Malaysia with this long-term strategic partnership with U Mobile.
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