Swedish telecom provider Telia and Ericsson have completed field tests on what they claim is Europe's first 5G trial system over a live network. This paves the way for customers in the Swedish and Estonian capitals of Stockholm and Tallinn to start using 5G services in 2018.
The system used 800 MHz of spectrum in the 15GHz band. During the test peak rates of 15 gigabits per user, and a latency below 3 milliseconds were achieved. This is more than 40 times faster than the current maximum speeds achievable on 4G, said Ericsson.
This marks an important milestone in our companies’ joint roadmap for 5G in Sweden and Estonia announced in January, with the goal to let Telia customers in Stockholm and Tallinn experience 5G services already in 2018. While major deployment of 5G networks is not expected until 2020, development of pre-commercial products, testing and spectrum is ongoing.
Higher speed and lower latency brought by 5G enhance existing services and open up for completely new use cases, service scenarios and innovations, creating new eco-systems and business opportunities, including communication and Internet of Things (IoT) services for both consumers and for the digitalization of industries.
Mats Svärdh, Head of Networks & IT Infrastructure, Global Services & Operations, Telia Company
This is a great achievement and stepping stone towards taking 5G to our customers in Sweden and Estonia 2018. The standardization and development of 5G has just started.
Peter Laurin, Head of Region Northern Europe & Central Asia, Ericsson
Today marks an important step on our joint 5G roadmap for Sweden and Estonia. Our 5G roadmap will incrementally introduce IoT technologies and 5G concepts that will enhance end user experience and business potential for enterprises and society.
