Sweden’s Telia Company and Ericsson yesterday announced the results of outdoor tests on their European 5G trial network systems in Kista, Sweden, and Tallinn, capital of Estonia. The Swedish trial demonstrated 5G capabilities in a real world environment over a live network using 800MHz of spectrum in the 15GHz band, and achieved peak data rates of 15Gbps per user, or ‘more than 40 times faster than the current maximum speeds achievable on 4G’, and a latency below three milliseconds.
The partner companies have a joint goal of enabling Telia Company’s customers in Tallinn and Swedish capital Stockholm to experience 5G services in 2018. While large-scale deployment of 5G networks is not expected until 2020, development of pre-commercial products, testing and spectrum is ongoing, and early 5G trials will contribute towards setting global standards.
Mats Svardh, Head of Networks & IT Infrastructure, Global Services & Operations, Telia Company, said: ‘The standardisation and development of 5G has just started. Our knowledge and learnings from testing in a real outdoor environment will be crucial to understand and develop the 5G technology and networks needed to meet our customers’ future requirements.’ Peter Laurin, Head of Region Northern Europe & Central Asia, Ericsson, added: ‘Our 5G roadmap will incrementally introduce IoT [Internet of Things] technologies and 5G concepts that will enhance end user experience and business potential for enterprises and society.’