In a successful 5G mmWave test, Airtel and Ericsson reach 4.7Gbps speed, opening up new connection options

Millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G has been successfully tested by Bharti Airtel and Ericsson on the Airtel network. Peak rates of 4.7Gbps were attained during this testing, demonstrating mmWave’s capabilities to handle high network capacity needs in the 5G future.

In heavily populated metropolitan regions, the mmWave spectrum works in the 5G high-band, namely over 24 gigahertz (GHz), to enable superior peak speeds, low latency, and high capacity.

This spectrum opens up new opportunities for cutting-edge applications and services and proves to be particularly beneficial for servicing a large number of mobile devices, households, and enterprises.
This has been made possible by Ericsson’s specially designed hardware and creative software co-design, which are supported by Ericsson Silicon and provide the business a distinct advantage in using high-band connectivity to its fullest. With the FWA technology, Airtel can now easily provide high-capacity connection to metropolitan regions.

“The peak throughput experienced during the testing gives us the confidence to deploy mm Wave for FWA application,” says Bharti Airtel’s CTO, Randeep Singh Sekhon. In addition to helping to offer faster speeds, using FWA customer premises equipment (CPE) powered by 5G millimeter Wave will let us to reach the vast majority of people who are now unconnected because of unreachable fiber connections. The economical and scalable alternative to wired connectivity is fixed wireless access (FWA).

“With 5G demonstrations on the 26GHz band now underway, this is a significant step in showcasing how mmWave can be scaled and integrated into a commercial mobile network,” states Nunzio Mirtillo, Head of Ericsson Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India. Our significant R&D expenditures have yielded several 5G mmWave patents, in-depth expertise, and experience. We completely control the technology we utilize, and we have one of the strongest portfolios in the world’s 5G mmWave patent market.