ZTE said the new offering will allow 4G subscribers to enjoy 5G-like services
Chinese vendor ZTE has announced what the company calls a total pre-5G solution, which will allow existing 4G subscribers to experience 5G-like services including an enhanced mobile broadband experience. The solution set uses high-order MIMO, multi-carrier aggregation, ultra-dense networking, and high-order modulation, to increase the cell peak throughput to multi-gigiabits-per-second, the vendor said.
The pre-5G portfolio also includes a cloud-based network architecture that encompasses the core and access networks. ZTE’s Cloud ServCore, based on NFV and cloud native, facilitates the introduction of 5G network functions, the vendor added.
The Pre-5G solution provides 5G-oriented digital services and applications that include eMBB-based high data rate services (such as ultra HD videos, VR, and online HD games) and massive IoT applications based on NB-IoT and eMTC (such as smart city, intelligent parking, environmental surveillance, and wearables).
ZTE highlighted that 4G technology is expected to continue to dominate the market for up to a decade even. The vendor added that 4G network evolution and 5G rollouts will continue in tandem, so pre-5G configurations will likely co-exist with full 5G deployments.
ZTE also said its pre5-G related products and solutions have so far been deployed in more than 60 networks across more than 40 countries, including China, Japan, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
LG U+, Huawei demo 4G-5G dual connectivity
In related news, South Korean mobile operator LG U+ has collaborated with Huawei to complete technology verification for 4G-5G dual-connectivity technology.
The two companies said that the field test involved linking a 3.5 GHz base station with a 28 GHz base station to allow terminals to simultaneously connect to both, achieving a peak downlink rate of around 20 Gbps.
During the trial, the involved firms used two base stations at a LG U+ 5G testbed in Seoul. The Korean operator said it had already verified the technology in a laboratory environment.
LG U+ director of 5G strategy Kim Dae Hee said dual connectivity technology will provide the foundation for 4G-5G heterogeneous networks.
