Ericsson said that the 5G data call was made at its lab in Kista, Sweden
Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies said they have achieved a non-standalone 5G New Radio data call at 2.6 GHz, adding a new frequency band to those successfully tested for commercial deployment.
Ericsson said that the bi-directional downlink and uplink data call was made at the Ericsson Lab in Kista, Sweden on December 20.
This latest interoperability development testing (IoDTs) data call is compliant with the 3GPP Rel-15 “early drop” specification that was frozen in March 2018 but further stabilized in September and which is the basis for commercial launches expected in the first half of 2019, the Swedish vendor said.
“Together with Qualcomm Technologies, Ericsson continues to make strides on commercial 5G readiness by continuously performing interoperability tests on 5G NR networks on different spectrum bands. We’re offering our customers flexible deployment options as they gear up for commercial 5G services,” said Per Narvinger, head of product area networks at Ericsson.
The lab demonstration used Ericsson’s commercially available 5G hardware – including its 5G NR radio AIR 6488 and RAN Compute products – together with a Qualcomm Technologies’ mobile smartphone form-factor test device powered by the Snapdragon X50 5G modem and antenna modules with integrated RF transceiver, RF front-end and antenna elements.
“Qualcomm Technologies is excited to continue working with Ericsson on 5G technology adoption and drive worldwide 5G launches this year. We are committed to helping ensure consumers get 5G devices and experiences in their hands starting in the first half of 2019,” said Durga Malladi, SVP and GM for 4G/5G at Qualcomm Technologies.
Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies completed similar IoDts on 28 GHz and 39 GHz millimeter wave bands, as well as in the 3.5 GHz band, based on the September specifications.
Ericsson also highlighted that it is currently working with key ecosystem partners for network and device IoDT based on 3GPP-compliant solutions on millimeter wave, 3.5 GHz and now 2.6 GHz bands.
In December 2018, Intel and Huawei said they had completed 2.6 GHz 5G New Radio interoperability and development testing based on the latest 3GPP Release 15 specifications from September 2018. Huawei claimed that this testing was the world’s first 2.6 GHz 5G interoperability test under a standalone network and was a key step towards accelerating the maturity of the 2.6 GHz 5G NR ecosystem. The trial used Intel’s 5G Mobile Trial Platform (MTP) and Huawei’s latest 5G NR base station supporting 2.6 GHz with 160MHz bandwidth.
