South Korean mobile operator SK Telecom, in partnership with Ericsson, has demonstrated a 5G small cell system that offers higher data rates than LTE by suppressing inter-cell interference based on a new 5G radio frame architecture. The demo was carried out in an area heavily affected by inter-cell interference from multiple neighboring small cells. The demo showed that the 5G small cell system more than doubled the cell-edge user performance compared to LTE, SK said.
SK Telecom and Ericsson plan to establish a 5G testbed at SK Telecom’s Bundang building this year, to jointly verify various types of 5G radio access technologies, including 5G small cell system, in the Korean mobile environment. The two partners also plan to develop other 5G technologies, and start a 5G trial service in 2018.
