Nokia and Optus will carry out a 5G trial in Australia using the 4.5 GHz band
Australian telecommunications firm Optus has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Finnish vendor Nokia to collaborate on the development of 5G technologies.
Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will carry out a 5G trial using Optus’ spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band.
“There is a global race to explore and develop 5G technology, and in Australia, Optus is well positioned to lead in this space with our ownership of 3.5GHz, and close partnerships with our vendors including Nokia, Singtel’s CTO, Tay Soo Meng, said. Singapore telco Singtel owns Optus.
The Australian operator has conducted initial closed tests with Nokia at its Sydney headquarters on a new 5G radio test bed on Nokia’s Airscale solution.
The demonstration highlighted 5G speed capability with the delivery of Virtual Reality video content. It also showed ultra-reliable low-latency networking enabling new industrial use cases such as real-time responsive robots.
Additionally, a trial has been completed demonstrating the capability of Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) for IoT applications.
“5G is exciting and the potential use for 5G is growing. Through this partnership, the commencement of joint studies, and in-lab and in-field testing, we are primed to explore this technology,” the executive said. “As we look ahead, Optus will explore new network architectures and use case trials with a specific 5G focus.”
Optus also revealed that it is preparing the network across transport and core networks, through virtualized network functions and cloud infrastructure.”
Both Optus and Nokia will also collaborate on a wide range of areas including the promotion of 5G global standardization and industrialization and the exploration and trials for new network architectures and applications, which will pave the way for Optus and Singtel for future 5G deployments.
China to carry out 5G trials in more than 100 cities
In other APAC news, China expects to carry out 5G trials in more than 100 cities across the country, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.
David Dai Shu, spokesman for telecoms equipment maker ZTE, told the South China Morning Post that China Mobile alone was planning to carry out pre-5G trials in more than 100 cities across over 20 provinces in China.
The spokesperson also said that China Unicom has recently signed a cooperation agreement with ZTE for 5G research.
