Verizon has conducted an over-the-air call on a 5G New Radio (NR) system using licensed spectrum – powered by Nokia 5G technology on a 5G NR device provided by chipset maker Qualcomm.
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Verizon is the first telecom operator to make a 5G call – using the company’s millimeter wave spectrum. The development will pave way for preparing Verizon’s network for deploying commercial 5G mobile services for consumers and enterprises.
At present, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint are also testing their 5G preparedness for launching 5G in 2018-2019.
Verizon’s telecom engineers conducted the 5G calling test this month at Nokia’s facility in Murray Hill, NJ and follows prior interoperability testing between Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies.
“With this first 3GPP NR standards-based connection, Verizon continues to lead the development of 5G technology,” said Ed Chan, senior vice president and chief technology architect, Corporate Network & Technology, Verizon.
Engineers of Verizon completed the 5G test over Nokia’s CloudRAN solution. Nokia’s CloudRAN solution includes Nokia AirScale baseband and radio, AirFrame server, and AirScale Cloud RAN running 5G NR 3GPP-compliant software.
The 5G test utilized Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G NR millimeter wave prototype device, which includes an optimized millimeter wave RF front-end design in a smartphone form factor.
Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks, Nokia and Joe Glynn, vice president of business development, Qualcomm Technologies, were instrumental in completing the 5G test in the U.S.
Verizon is aiming to achieve more bandwidth, better speed and single digit latency for fixed and mobile use cases from the deployment of 5G technology over millimeter wave spectrum – beginning in 2018.
