The transition to the second phase of commercial 5G – standalone 5G – is a major step closer following the successful completion of a standalone 5G data connection by Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies.
The companies have already worked closely in partnership to create several 5G technology milestones. The latest landmark was achieved in an Ericsson lab using commercial Ericsson Radio System base stations, Ericsson standalone New Radio (NR) software and Ericsson’s 5G Cloud Core solution with a mobile smartphone form-factor test device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System.
The successful test was compliant with global 3GPP 5G NR specifications.
The companies say the test highlights their determination to support the second phase of 5G commercialization with standalone deployments that utilize a new 5G core network to provide more 5G capabilities. These include guaranteed quality of service and network slicing to support emerging business models in Industrial IoT (IIoT) and enterprise-grade cloud services.
Durga Malladi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, 4G/5G, Qualcomm Technologies, says “The global rollout of 5G is exceeding expectations in both its speed and scale. Qualcomm Technologies is proud to work with industry leaders like Ericsson in playing a key role in this journey to support global OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and operators to quickly rollout commercial 5G this year using non-standalone architecture, and now working together to drive a smooth transition to 5G standalone starting in 2020.”
Per Narvinger, Head of Product Area Networks, Ericsson, says “Together with Qualcomm Technologies, we have reached another important milestone that supports the transition to standalone 5G. This demonstrates that 5G network technologies continue to mature and that we are strengthening the 5G ecosystem. Service providers are already able to deliver the benefits of 5G technology, and now we are taking further steps to release the full potential of 5G, serving users and industries alike.”
