U.S. Cellular and Ericsson have completed joint testing of various 5G use cases at 28GHz where they achieved a peak throughput speed of 8.5 Gbps.
The tests, a significant step toward the launch of a 5G network, were conducted in rural and suburban environments in Madison, Wisconsin.
The trials were conducted under a variety of real-world conditions, and In addition, virtual reality was tested, achieving peak speeds of 4 Gbps. This virtual reality test was one of the highlights of the trial, as it proved how the ultra-high speeds and low latency of 5G will enable VR applications. The companies also tested augmented reality, advanced beamforming and massive MIMO.
The live over-the-air trials expanded on 5G trials between the two companies in 2016 that achieved 9 Gbps at 15GHz.
Japan's SoftBank announced ealier this year that it has received an experimental license to conduct tests on the 28GHz frequency band, a candidate for 5G in Japan, in addition to the 4GHz and 4.5GHz bands which it used to conduct 5G field trials in August 2016.
More recently, South Korea's LG U+ in partnership with Huawei has completed the first phase of their 5G urban field trial over 28GHz millimeter wave(mmWave) band to showcase a downlink rate of 2.5Gbps at a distance of 1 km.
Michael S. Irizarry, EVP and CTO, U.S. Cellular
This was an important trial for us to understand the propagation characteristics and path loss at 28Ghz, and we are pleased with our learnings. Our customers deserve to have a network that keeps up with their lifestyle, so we are constantly working to ensure that they will always have access to the latest technology and data speeds available.
Niklas Heuveldop, Head of Market Area North America, Ericsson
5G activities continue to accelerate across North America as all operators prepare for deployments. U.S. Cellular is aggressively testing 5G to determine how to best leverage the new capabilities for its customers.