Ericsson Completes 5G Platform

February 8, 2018

It seems no company is looking forward to 5G more than Ericsson, after a difficult 2017. The OEM launched its 5G RAN commercial software today, based on the recently approved first 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) standard. It also introduced a new category of radio products called Street Macro – a new site type that addresses the need of operators to grow in cities with limited available radio locations. The company also announced today that its Ericsson Radio System products are ready for 5G NR. (See companion article.)

To capture growth opportunities presented by new 5G use cases, Ericsson expanded its 5G Core System with new capabilities to support 5G NR and also enhances its distributed cloud solution.

“Operators who want to be early with 5G now have the essential pieces for launching 5G networks already this year,” said Fredrik Jejdling, head of Business Area Networks at Ericsson. “With our expanded platform, they will get more efficient networks as well as opportunities to create new revenues from emerging consumer and industrial use cases.”

The 5G radio network software announced today complements Ericsson’s already launched baseband and 5G radios. Operators can activate their 5G networks, according to the OEM, and take the first steps with commercial 5G.

Last December, Ericsson turned on a 5G NR cell in the mmW frequencies in the city of Torino, which reached speeds of more 20 Gbps.

The radio offering is complemented with 5G core commercial software optimized for 5G throughput, network capacity and scalability. Ericsson’s Packet Core and Unified Data Management solutions will deliver enhancements throughout 2018 to efficiently support 5G services. These solutions can be further upgraded with new functionalities as the 3GPP 5G standard evolves.