Vodafone has completed the world’s first 5G call using the Non Stand-Alone (NSA) 3GPP 5G new radio (NR) standard and sub6 GHz spectrum.
Huawei has assisted Vodafone, using a test network, for making the call in Spain ahead of Mobile World Congress (MWC 2018).
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Vodafone engineers achieved a dual connectivity 4G to 5G live call using a test device during the test. The voice over internet protocol (VOIP) connection started on 4G and then established the data connection on 5G. The engineers also tested a live HD video call using the same route.
Vodafone used 3.7GHz spectrum using a 5G NR end-to-end test network built Huawei, a leading telecom equipment maker from China.
Huawei engineers deployed Radio Access Network (RAN) and core network equipment to support the test with micro-service centric architecture, control plane / user plane separation, unified access and network slicing technology.
“This is a significant milestone for Vodafone towards the introduction of 5G. The credit for this must go to the engineers in Huawei and Vodafone who have worked tirelessly since December. This test will enable us to move forward with further trials of 5G across Europe during 2018,” Santiago Tenorio, Vodafone’s Group Head of Networks Strategy and Architecture, said.
Yang Chaobin, president of Huawei’s 5G product line, said: “This test result shows the maturity of 5G system based on the 3GPP standard.”
Meanwhile, Qualcomm Technologies and Huawei have completed 5G NR Interoperability and Development Testing (IODT) based on the 3GPP Release 15 standard. The testing, which utilized Qualcomm Technologies’ UE prototype and Huawei’s commercial 5G system, is a key milestone towards accelerating the maturity of the Release 15 5G NR ecosystem.
