Ericsson gets 5Gbit/s in trial with possible 5G technology

Ericsson has set up a wireless internet connection in a laboratory in Sweden with an as yet unknown technology. A speed of 5 Gbit/s was achieved. Ericsson’s technology may be part of the upcoming 5G standard.

Ericsson achieved the speed of 5Gbit/s in optimal conditions: the company demonstrated the technology in a laboratory with its own hardware. Moreover, the speed of 5Gbit/s turned out to be only possible by applying mimo and establishing the connection in the 15GHz band; current 2g, 3g and 4g networks operate between 0.8 and 2.6GHz, Wi-Fi works at 2.4 and 5GHz. The higher frequency makes higher speeds possible, but it is more difficult to apply in a mobile network with coverage.

Despite this, Ericsson sees those high frequencies as necessary for 5g; it provides antennas on the street at every lantern and in buildings in every room to enable speeds of 1Gbit/s or more on mobile networks. Those high frequencies will exist in 5g alongside current technologies such as 3g and 4g, Ericsson thinks.

Ericsson does not reveal much about the technology it uses, but the network company probably wants the telecom industry to use it as a standard. The telecom union ITU should look into this. Until now, there are always different technologies with each generation: 4g is lte or wimax, 3g is umts or evdo rev-b and with 2g the choice is roughly between gsm and cdma. Ericsson has not yet named its technology.

Many companies and governments are working on 5g. Providers should be able to offer networks based on 5G from around 2020.