5G Hardware Showing Up in Prototype Stage

March 24, 2016

By Ernest Worthman

March 24, 2016 — Hardware with 5G-like specs is showing up in the prototype stages much faster now. SK Telecom and Nokia Networks have collaborated on a network test claiming OTA transmission speeds of 20+ Gbps. The results are claimed to be in the specs of emerging “5G” performance requirements.

There are other field trial tests that have reached speeds of 25 Gbps as well.
In addition to Nokia’s collaboration previously mentioned, Nokia says it has run 5G on commercially available base stations, showcasing its “5G-ready” AirScale equipment, which it says can enable operators to migrate their existing LTE infrastructure to early 5G services in 2017, with full 5G commercial services expected in 2020.

Nokia has what it calls a “pre-commercial” radio system running in the 28 and 73 GHz bands that is providing fixed wireless broadband service. Link speeds of multiple Gbps, in a real-world environment, with a spectral bandwidth of 1 gigahertz and 1 millisecond one-way air interface latency are claimed.