UK millimetre wave trials prove successful

Vodafone, Qualcomm and Ericsson have collaborated on two UK millimetre wave pilots.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock/kovop58

According to a statement, the first trial focused on how the “higher download and upload speeds of mmWave spectrum can help deliver fibre-like speeds and home broadband services over the airwaves.”

The statement continued that within 100 metres of the mast, devices were able to achieve peak download speeds up to 4 Gbps, and 500 Mbps in upload. At the edge of the coverage zone meanwhile - up to 700 metres - , peak download speed was recorded as 500 Mbps. Latency was found to be "four to five times lower than existing 5G."  

Devices used during the trial were provided by Askey and ZTE, plus a Netgear MiFi, powered by the Snapdragon X65 5G. The trial took place in Newbury. The trials leveraged Ericsson’s antenna-integrated radio 5322, Baseband 6651 technology.

The second pilot – which took place at a 20,000-capacity football stadium - was aimed at addressing network congestion. The statement continued: “Using a commercial Snapdragon powered smartphone, the trial registered peak download speeds up to 2.8 Gbps for unobstructed views to the mast at various points, and even 500 Mbps for locations that didn’t have a direct line-of-sight.”

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