Telecom Italia (TIM) has again teamed up with Ericsson and Qualcomm to set what the partners describe as world-record long distance speeds for 5G technology applied to Fixed Wireless Access (FWA). The trial conducted in collaboration with Casa Systems in Rome saw the companies reach speeds of 1 Gbps on 26 GHz millimetre-wave (mmWave) frequencies over distances of 6.5 kilometres on TIM’s live network.
TIM said the successful trial confirms that 5G millimetre-wave spectrum can be used not only for urban, high speed or high-density-only deployment, but also for wider 5G FWA coverage. The latest test result comes after the same partners exceeded 4 Gbps on a live 5G commercial network earlier this year in another pilot conducted in Rome on the same 26 GHz band spectrum.
The 5G FWA solution was tested on Ericsson’s new 5G mmWave high power antenna-integrated radio AIR 5322, installed at the mobile site on Via Oriolo Romano in Rome, equipped with Ericsson’s extended range software. The partners also used Casa Systems’ new AurusAI, described as the industry’s first high-power 5G mmWave customer premise equipment (CPE), equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System and a Qualcomm QTM527 extended-range mmWave antenna module.
Testing will now continue in the town of Front, in the Canavese area of Turin, a so-called white area not yet reached by other connectivity solutions. A 5G millimetre-wave site has been equipped with a high-capacity radio link connection to allow selected users to try out the FWA 5G mmWave multi-gigabit speeds. Other industrial districts will subsequently be identified for business customers to try out the new technology.
The Italian operator added that intends to use 5G FWA solutions, dubbed ‘Fiber To The Air’, to reach customers in areas not yet covered by existing fibre-optic networks, bringing high-speed broadband coverage to the entire country.
