Samsung said FWA trials will start in November in the city of Hamburg
Telefónica Deutschland and Samsung Electronics have agreed to carry out fixed wireless access trials in Germany.
Under the terms of the agreement, up to 20 households in the city of Hamburg will test FWA technology during a three-month period. Trials are expected to begin in November this year.
Samsung will provide a complete end-to-end millimeter wave solution at 26 GHz. The technology consists of the following components: A virtual core and a 5G radio access unit for Telefónica, and 5G outdoor unit and indoor routers for the customers.
Telefónica and Samsung said the main aim of the trial is to show that households and businesses can be supplied with high-quality gigabit connections for an optimal customer experience without the need for laying fiber-optic cables.
“For the first time, Telefónica Deutschland and Samsung are working hand in hand in Germany on the introduction of 5G in connection with FWA,” said Cayetano Carbajo Martín, CTO of Telefónica Deutschland. “At Telefónica Deutschland, we are confident that this trial will not only demonstrate the technical feasibility of fixed wireless access in Germany, but will also provide a better network experience with regard to future technologies.”
“5G FWA is a promising, fast-to-market and cost-effective way to bring Giga-speed broadband to people across the country, and a viable alternative where fiber deployment is not feasible,” said Gy Seo, SVP and head of Samsung’s global sales and marketing team for its networks business. “This partnership allows us to respond to user demands and explore compelling connected service opportunities in Germany.”
The German operator has been working with other vendors to pave the way for the future launch of 5G technologies.
Earlier this year, Nokia and Telefónica Deutschland signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a joint 5G innovation cluster. The two partners said this initiative will allow them to test networks and technologies on the path to 5G.
The innovation cluster will be located at Telefonica’s lab in Munich, Germany. The two companies also said the cluster will be followed by trials in the operator’s live network, currently planned with priority in Berlin with the objective of building a benchmark network with 4.5G, 4.9G and 5G technology.
Under the agreement, the Finnish vendor will focus on trials that maximize the use of existing network assets and help Telefónica to meet the evolving demand and explore new business opportunities.
Some of the technologies to be implemented by Nokia in the innovation cluster include massive MIMO and multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) for Ultra-Reliable Low latency Communications (URLLC).
In October 2017, the German operator partnered with Chinese vendor Huawei to launch what it claimed to be the world’s first 5G-oriented antenna deployment solution. According to Huawei, the solution incorporates both a 14 port multi-band antenna and a TDD 3.5GHz Massive MIMO antenna to meet Telefonica’s requirements for an easy network evolution towards 5G.
