Vodafone, Qualcomm and Ericsson say they have successfully demonstrated the benefits of 5G mmWave via two trials in the UK.
The trials used Ericsson’s AIR (antenna-integrated radio) 5322 and Baseband 6651 technology, as well as various devices powered by the Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System.
The first one took place in Newbury and used full spectrum bandwidth (800 MHz of mmWave spectrum). It was designed to prove how the higher download and upload speeds of mmWave spectrum can help deliver ‘fibre-like speeds’.
Within 100 metres of the mast the devices (made by Askey, ZTE and a MiFi from Netgear) were apparently able to achieve peak download speeds up to 4 Gbps and 500 Mbps in upload. At 400 metres, the peak download speeds were 2.3 Gbps and 200 Mbps in upload. Meanwhile at the edge of the coverage zone (up to 700 meters), the peak download speed was 500 Mbps, and latency was found to be 4-5 times lower than existing 5G capabilities, we’re told.
