Russian mobile operator MTS has claimed a record for the longest wireless link distance using commercial 10 Gbps E-Band radios: 19.5 km (12.1 miles) with stable connectivity at 9.97 Gbps throughput.

The goal of the tests, which were confirmed by MTS, was 10 Gbps connectivity across a link approximately 20 km.

“In conditions where the installation of a fiber-optic cable is difficult or impractical, microwave links become for us the best solution for providing mobile communications to certain territories. We welcome manufacturers with advanced wireless equipment,” said Dmitry Smirnov, technical director of MTS.

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ELVA-1 PPC-10G-E 10G 70/80 GHz radios with 60 cm diameter antennas were installed at an altitude of some 50 m on MTS towers in a rural area along the Kola federal highway between the villages of Gorgala and Kiselnya, 85 km east of St. Petersburg. The link was registered in the Office of Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom regulator in the North-West Federal District.

The wireless link provides a full duplex 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) channel. Each radio has a built-in switch with 4 x 10 GE ports, and up to four radios can be installed using the same footprint and different center frequencies and cross-polarization to achieve 40 Gbps aggregate data rates.

The 10 Gbps link budget was designed for rain attenuation of 16.6 dB, and the fade margin before breaking the connection due to heavy rain was 38.9 dB.

MTS said the previous longest route for 10 Gbps, 70/80 GHz links were distances of 15 km (9.3 miles) for a NOVATEK oil and gas enterprise and 11 km (6.8 miles) for NorNickel, both in Siberia.