A group of telecom firm said that they have achieved the newly-approved NSA 5G NR standard. Ericsson and Qualcomm in collaboration with AT&T, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, SK Telecom, Sprint, Telstra, T-Mobile US, Verizon, and Vodafone, showcased 3GPP-compliant 5G NR multi-vendor interoperability during live demonstrations held in both the Ericsson Lab in Kista, Sweden and the Qualcomm Research lab in New Jersey, USA, said a statement from Ericsson.
Ericsson said that the demonstrations show the companies' combined strength in carrying out timely trials that pave the way for commercial launches of 5G standard-compliant infrastructure and devices. “Ericsson's 5G NR pre-commercial base stations and Qualcomm Technologies' 5G NR UE prototypes will enable operators to conduct live tests in their own networks,” claimed Ericsson.
“This milestone builds on years of researching and developing 5G technology as well as on leading and contributing to the standardization work. By working closely with our key partners in early trials and fine-tuning our global portfolio, we ensure that we can bring the standard-compliant technology to the benefits of our customers and their customers,” said Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks at Ericsson.
Ericsson informed that over-the-air Interoperability Development Testing (IODT) was conducted for lower layer data connections operating at both 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz bands. These just standardized layers are the fundamental building blocks of 5G NR. NSA 5G NR will use the existing LTE radio and evolved packet core network as an anchor for mobility management and coverage while adding a new 5G NR radio access carrier to enable certain 5G use cases starting in 2019.
At Mobile World Congress 2017, global industry leaders pledged to accelerate 5G NR for large-scale trials and deployments. This was followed by 3GPP approval in March of a work plan to speed up the development of NSA 5G NR specifications by six months and this week approved as a standard at the 3GPP RAN Plenary Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. This will aid meeting the increasing connectivity requirements for enhanced mobile broadband services.
