MTN and technology partner Huawei have launched what they are calling Africa’s first field trial of 5G mobile broadband.
The field trial demonstrated a 5G fixed-wireless access use case with Huawei’s 5G 28GHz millimetre-wave technology in a “real-world” environment in Hatfield, Pretoria.
It achieved speeds of 520Mbit/s on the downlink and 77Mbit/s on the uplink, it said.
“We have gleaned invaluable insights about the modifications that we need to do on our core, radio and transmission network from these pilots,” said group chief technology and information officer Babak Fouladi in a statement.
“It is important to note that the transition to 5G is not just a flick of a switch, but a road map that requires technical modifications and network architecture changes to ensure that we meet the standards that this technology requires.”
Fouladi’s colleague in MTN’s South African operation, Giovanni Chiarelli, said some of the applications for 5G include virtual and augmented reality, ultra-high-definition video streaming, and cloud gaming.
The use of millimeter-wave spectrum bands is one of the key 5G enabling technologies to deliver the required capacity and massive data rates required for 5G’s use cases, he said.
“The field trial will pave the way for a fixed-wireless access solution that is capable of replacing conventional fixed-access technologies such as fibre,” Chiarelli said. — © 2018 NewsCentral Media
