Ericsson recognized as the 'Big Contributor to 5G' in Asia

NEW DELHI: An independent jury of industry analysts awarded Ericsson’s 5G radio test bed with the Informa Telecoms & Media’s LTE Asia Award for the category ‘Biggest Contribution to 5G Development’. This is said to be the first time where 5G has been recognized as an award category in the Asia Pacific region by the organization.

The LTE Asia Awards stated that its purpose is to celebrate the triumphs and innovations of the LTE and 5G market in Asia. Ericsson 5G research has come out of the labs and into live test networks with 11 leading operators working with Ericsson 5G radio test beds already publicly announced, with eight of these being in Asia.

Ericsson indicates that its 5G radio test beds are where innovation meets implementation, enabling operators, eco-system partners, academia and analysts to test 5G capabilities live. In addition to providing real-world demonstrations of 5G performance and applications, Ericsson 5G radio test beds also enable live testing of key capabilities, such as Multipoint Connectivity with Distributed MIMO and 5G-LTE Dual Connectivity, to ensure a smooth evolution to 5G and rapid adoption of new 5G-based services.

Commenting on receiving the award, Thomas Norén, Vice President and Head of Radio Product Management, Ericsson, said, “Being recognized by industry analysts for the biggest contribution to 5G development is a great validation of the leadership position that Ericsson has staked out in 5G.  Ericsson 5G radio test beds are being deployed for operators worldwide. In less than a year, test beds moved out of the lab and into live indoor and outdoor network environments in Japan, Sweden and the US, where they can integrate with LTE networks.”

Norén further explained that the test beds focus on the interactions between mobile devices and the radio access network, both indoors and outside. 5G will encompass an evolution of today's LTE technology and the addition of new radio access technologies, often in higher frequencies. Ericsson’s new 5G air interface, called ‘NX’, is used in the 5G test bed devices and base stations.