Huawei said the recent tests examined cell throughput, user experienced data rate, mobility, network latency and key 5G solutions
Huawei said it became the first vendor to pass China’s third-phase 5G research and development tests based on 3GPP’s non-standalone (NSA) 5G specifications.
During this trial, Huawei achieved over 10 Gbps downlink throughput for C-Band using its 5G end-to-end commercial system. The vendor said that the results suggested that 5G enhanced mobile broadband services (eMBB) are now ready for commercial use.
Huawei also said that uplink-downlink decoupling verification is mandatory for the standalone part of the third-phase 5G R&D tests. This technology will be verified in many more scenarios by the end of this year, the Chinese vendor said.
Huawei unveiled its 5G end-to-end commercial products during this year’s Mobile World Congress 2018. During the most recent tests, Huawei used C-Band base stations, C-Band terminals, and the company’s existing 5G bearer and core networks in Huairou to verify network performance across diverse NSA scenarios. The tests examined cell throughput, user experienced data rate, mobility, network latency, key 5G solutions, and essential service procedures.
The vendor said its 5G E2E products are ready to support operators’ commercial 5G deployment in 2018. The company highlighted that early commercial 5G applications are expected to be seen in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and other innovative eMBB services.
“2018 marks the start of 5G’s commercial use. Huawei launched its 5G E2E commercial products at the beginning of the year. The third-phase of 5G R&D tests by the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group and field verification suggest that Huawei’s commercial 5G products are capable of supporting eMBB services,” said Yang Chaobin, President of Huawei’s 5G product line. “Based on these test results, such products are ready to be used for early commercial 5G deployment.”
China’s 5G R&D tests started in 2016 and are expected to be concluded by the end of 2018. These tests involve three phases, namely key technologies testing, the verification of technology and solution, and 5G system verification. Huawei has completed the NSA aspects of the third-phase tests in Huairou, Beijing, and will move on to conduct tests for SA networking scenarios.
The IMT-2020 (5G) promotion group was jointly established in 2013 by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, based on the original IMT-Advanced Promotion Group. In China, it is the primary platform through which 5G research and international exchange and cooperation is conducted.
Operators participating in the IMT-2020 Promotion Group include China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and Japanese telecoms operator NTT DoCoMo. Vendors which are part of the initiative are Huawei, ZTE, Ericsson, Nokia, Datang and Samsung. A number of chipset and test measurement vendors, including Qualcomm, Intel, Mediatek, Ctec, Keysight Technologies and Rohde & Schwartz are also part of the initiative.
The IMT-2020 Promotion Group completed the initial phase of its trial program in 2016. That phase included testing wireless technologies including massive multiple-input-multiple-output, novel multiple access, new waveforms, advance coding, ultra-dense network implementations and high-frequency communications. The trial phase also included network slicing, edge computing and network function reconstruction. The second phase of the national 5G tests were fully completed during 2017.
During the first phase of the 5G trial, five companies including Huawei and ZTE have built 15 base stations in Huairou District in Beijing to support further testing.
China had previously announced plans to commercialize 5G mobile networks as early as 2020. China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator, previously said it aims to deploy 10,000 5G base stations across China in 2020.
