Verizon and Nokia announced two industry firsts: the successful completion of a series of data sessions over the 3GPP New Radio 5G standard outdoors – rather than in a lab; and successful multi-carrier aggregation to boost those signals into Gbps range.
The testing trasmitted multiple live interactive virtual reality (VR) sessions and simultaneous 4k streaming video on Verizon’s 28 GHz millimeter wave spectrum with latencies of 1.5 milliseconds.
The companies used 4CC (component carrier aggregation) to achieve throughput speeds up to 1.8 Gbps.
“By continuing to push the technological envelope and make advancements like these, we’re driving the ongoing development of 5G technology and bringing it to life for our customers,” said Sanyogita Shamsunder, vice president, 5G Ecosystems & Innovation for Verizon. “Verizon continues to lead the way toward the realization of true 5G technology.”
“Nokia is committed to supporting Verizon’s advanced effort to bring 5G to commercial reality,” said Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks, Nokia. “Our successful trial pushes the testing distance and because it has been conducted outside, tests the interference variables in an outdoor environment. This is a major milestone for preparing Verizon for widespread 5G implementation.”
Verizon completes its first 5G call
Verizon completed its first over-the-air call on a 3GPP-compliant 5G New Radio (NR) system using licensed millimeter wave spectrum.
The call, which was completed at Nokia’s facility in Murray Hill, New Jersey earlier this month, used Nokia’s 5G CloudRAN solution, which is comprised of the Nokia AirScale baseband and radio, AirFrame server, and AirScale Cloud RAN running 5G NR 3GPP-compliant software. Qualcomm provided 5G NR prototype devices in smartphone form factors.
The companies described the test as an important milestone on the road to preparing Verizon’s network for widespread implementation of commercial 5G mobile services for consumers and enterprises.
“With this first 3GPP NR standards-based connection, Verizon continues to lead the development of 5G technology,” said Ed Chan, senior vice president and chief technology architect, Corporate Network & Technology, Verizon. “By partnering with Nokia and Qualcomm to combine 5G technology with our deep millimeter wave spectrum, we’re well on the way to being the first to usher in the next era of wireless communications for customers.”
