T-Mobile US has completed what it claims is ‘the world’s first standalone 5G data session on a multi-vendor 5G next generation radio access and core network’. The cellco notes that the trial also represented the ‘first standalone end-to-end 5G data session in North America’. The tests took place at T-Mobile’s laboratory in Bellevue, Washington, in association with vendor partners Ericsson, Nokia, Cisco and MediaTek.
Current 5G networks are non-standalone, meaning that devices connect to 5G and LTE simultaneously. T-Mobile – which launched a Dual Connectivity 4G/5G network in parts of six cities on 28 June, aggregating millimetre wave (mmWave)-powered 5G and LTE frequencies – plans to introduce standalone 5G in 2020.