MTN South Africa and Ericsson showcased the first automotive use case demonstrating 5G mobility in Africa, achieving over 1.6Gbps throughput in 100MHz TDD spectrum in the 28GHz band with 5ms latency in a moving vehicle.
A live feed from a car on a skid pan at the Gerotek testing facility in Pretoria, mounting terminals in a vehicle on a live 5G network trial, the audience was able to view the driver’s surroundings whilst moving around the track allowing them to experience what the driver was seeing, in real time.
The demonstration was then taken further by fully obscuring the driver’s windscreen, leaving him to navigate the track using the live feed from a 4K video camera to his VR headset.
The solution demonstrated, consisted of 4 radio units, baseband equipment, a 5G user equipment (UE) prototype with an external antenna, a vehicle with the UE installed, a 4K video camera and a VR Headset, demonstrating the performance of a low-latency network.
Rafiah Ibrahim, Head of Ericsson Middle East and Africa
The collaboration between MTN South Africa and Ericsson has led to an exploration of a variety of use cases and applications for digital transformation of industries. These include the automotive, mining, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and utilities sectors.
Wanda Matandela, Chief Business Enterprise Officer, MTN SAe
Using pilots like this, we are not only assessing and preparing our network to roll out 5G in the future, but we are also future-proofing our infrastructure to enrich customer experience and take industries to the next level.
