Ericsson said its installed base of radio products from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio will be able to run 5G New Radio (NR). This capability will be achieved through a remote software installation.
This applies to more than 150 different radio variants in Ericsson Radio System that are active in more than 190 networks around the world, meaning that Ericsson Radio System legacy radios from 2015 can support 5G NR.
This 5G NR readiness also applies to Ericsson’s delivered micro radios in Ericsson Radio System and existing Radio Dot System products. In short, all Ericsson Radio System products are ready for 5G NR.
Operators will have the possibility to run 4G and 5G in the same band with the same radio and the same baseband. It will also be possible to share the spectrum between 4G and 5G with side-by-side carriers in the same band, and even with overlapping carriers using so-called ‘Dynamic Spectrum Sharing’ functionality.
Fredrik Jejdling, EVP and Head of Business Area Networks, Ericsson
We have a long history of strong backwards compatibility and our products and software are built for evolution – with Ericsson, there is no need to rip and replace. Investments in Ericsson Radio System since 2015 will continue to bring operators value when the time is right to transition to 5G.
Daniel Staub, Head of Joint Mobile Group, Swisscom
Today’s news means that we can launch 5G services more efficiently with our future-proofed Ericsson Radio System products – significantly boosting the long-term value of our network assets.
