SK Telecom said 5G small cell system – powered by Ericsson — offers double data rates than LTE by suppressing inter-cell interference based on a new 5G radio frame architecture.
Ericsson and SK Telecom have conducted the 5G small cell system in an area affected by inter-cell interference from multiple neighboring small cells. The demo showed that the 5G small cell system more than doubled the cell-edge user performance compared to LTE.
Currently, telecom operators use LTE small cells to enhance mobile data service quality in congested areas. However, the telecom service quality degrades with the number of small cells, due to inter-cell interference mainly caused by Cell-specific Reference Signals (CRS) collision.
Ericsson and SK Telecom developed a new 5G radio frame architecture and interference control technology fundamentally different from that of the LTE network.
SK Telecom and Ericsson plan to establish a 5G Testbed at SK Telecom’s Bundang Building within this year to jointly verify various types of 5G radio access technologies – including 5G small cell system – in the Korean mobile environment and develop other key 5G technologies with the aim to launch a 5G trial service in 2018.
“With the development of the 5G small cell system, an enabling technology for 5G, we move one step closer to realizing the commercialization of 5G,” said Thomas Noren, vice president and head of Radio Product Management of Ericsson.
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