Ericsson and Intel score another feat with multivendor data call on 39GHz

Dubai, UAE, October 22, 2018:  Riding on their recent success with the 3.5GHz band, Ericsson and Intel have announced another milestone – the first 3GPP-based end-to-end, multivendor NR 5G live data call on 39GHz. The 39GHz band is an important spectrum for 5G commercial rollouts in North America – expected to begin in 2019 – with all major service providers planning to use this spectrum band. 

This latest accomplishment by Ericsson and Intel builds on earlier 3GPP NR compliant calls carried out on 3.5GHz band. The first one was conducted at the Kista Lab in July and the other on a commercial mobile network at Telstra’s 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast.

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks, says: “Completing this end-to-end data call on 39GHz with Intel shows our commitment to realizing 5G in different spectrum bands. In July we did it on 3.5GHz and now on 39GHz, which will smoothen the path to 5G for our customers. Using commercial 5G radios for this multivendor interoperability milestone shows our progress towards making 5G a commercial reality.”

Asha Keddy, Vice President, Next Generation and Standards, Intel, says: “This live 5G demonstration on the 39GHz band signifies how close 5G commercial services are to reality in North America. Using the Intel® 5G Mobile Trial Platform configured with a 39GHz RF chip/antenna, we today successfully demonstrated a 3GPP-compliant Skype call performed connecting to an Ericsson commercial 5G g-NB base station – an important step in ensuring our commercial platforms are field ready for deployment in 2019.”

The multivendor live data call was carried out in a demonstration held at the Ericsson 5G lab in Kista, Sweden and in a 5G lab on the Intel Santa Clara campus.

The demo used Ericsson’s commercially available gear including 5G NR radio AIR 5331 and baseband with Intel’s RF mmWave chip and Intel® 5G Mobile Trial Platform.