Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies, and SK Telecom announced plans to conduct interoperability testing and over-the-air field trials based on 5G New Radio (NR) standards being developed based on specifications in 3GPP. The trials intend to drive the mobile ecosystem toward rapid validation and commercialisation of 5G NR technologies at scale, enabling timely commercial network launches based on 3GPP Rel-15 standard compliant 5G NR infrastructure and devices.
In the trials, the companies will showcase new 5G NR technologies that use wide bandwidths available at higher frequency bands to increase network capacity and achieve multi-gigabit per second data rates. These technologies will be critical to meeting the increasing consumer connectivity requirements for emerging consumer mobile broadband experiences such as VR, AR and connected cloud services. In addition, the proliferation of 5G NR technology can make it more cost-effective and easier for multi-gigabit internet service to reach more homes and businesses.
The interoperability testing and trials, which will launch in Korea starting in H2 2017 are intended to track closely with, as well as help accelerate, the first 3GPP 5G NR specification that will be part of Release 15, the global 5G standard that will make use of both sub-6 GHz and mmWave spectrum bands. Tracking the 3GPP specification is important because it promotes adherence and validation with the global 5G standard, accelerating the time to standard-compliant devices and infrastructure. It will also drive forward compatibility to future 3GPP 5G NR releases.
