Vodafone, Ericsson, and Qualcomm successfully complete two 5G millimeter wave trials in the UK

Vodafone UK, Ericsson Sweden, and Qualcomm Inc. announced on October 23 the successful completion of two trials of 5G millimeter wave technology in the UK. The success of these trials will pave the way for high-speed, high-capacity connectivity services in complex scenarios, such as Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) for home broadband and addressing mobile network congestion in densely populated areas.

The first trial was conducted in Newbury in southern England. The goal was to provide fiber-optic-like connection speeds through FWA utilizing millimeter waves. As a result, ultra-fast home broadband speeds of up to 4 Gbps downlink and 500 Mbps uplink were achieved within 100 meters of the antenna mast. Even at the edge of the coverage zone, maximum downlink speeds of 500 Mbps were achieved.

The second trial was conducted at a London soccer stadium with a capacity of approximately 20,000 people. Maximum downlink speed of 2.8 Gbps was achieved using millimeter waves, and maximum downlink speed of 500 Mbps was achieved in an area with no line of sight to the antenna mast.

Andrea Dona CNO (Chief Network Officer) of Vodafone UK said, "Millimeter wave is a niche technology for UK operators, but the improvement in customer experience will be amazing." Evangelia Tzifa, CTO of Networks and Managed Services at Ericsson UK, added, "With its fiber-like speeds and ability to support large traffic dense environments such as stadiums, millimeter wave will not only transform the mobile user's connection experience It will not only transform the mobile user's connectivity experience, but also open the door to new advanced use cases in various fields.

Materials

• Vodafone, Qualcomm and Ericsson complete 5G mmWave trials in the UK
• Vodafone, Ericsson, Qualcomm test 5G mmWave in the UK
• Vodafone, Qualcomm, and Ericsson trial mmWave tech to boost UK connectivity