Nokia, Elisa and Qualcomm Technologies have achieved what they claim are the world’s fastest 5G speeds on a commercial network in Finland by delivering 8 Gbps for the first time serving two 5G mmWave devices connected simultaneously, Nokia said in a release.
The record speed, which was showcased at Elisa’s flagship store in Helsinki, Finland, will support a range of new low-latency, high-bandwidth services, such as high-speed video downloads, mission-critical or virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications. The service is expected to be implemented in 2021.
The milestone was achieved by utilizing Nokia’s 5G mmWave technology and Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G smartphone form factor test devices over Elisa’s commercial 5G network. The high speed enables more high-bandwidth and latency-sensitive enterprise services, such as remotely controlled devices for industrial needs or mission-critical applications.
The base station utilized two Nokia AirScale radios, each using 800 megahertz of commercial millimeter wave 5G spectrum at 26 GHz. These provided connectivity to two 5G smartphone form-factor test devices powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System featuring second-generation Qualcomm QTM525 mmWave antenna modules, with each device reaching 4 Gbps peak speeds from the base station.
“This is an important development and another step in our efforts to bring the fastest speeds and best 5G experiences to our customers. Elisa was the first in Finland and amongst the first in the world to deploy 5G,” sid Sami Komulainen, EVP of production at Elisa. “Reaching 8Gbps is a natural step in our 5G development and we want to explore the possibilities 5G offers and push the technology further to benefit our customers.”
In September, Elisa had announced new 5G agreements with Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia.
Ericsson was selected for a comprehensive 5G technology deployment spanning 5G Core and 5G Radio Access Network (RAN). The new agreement included both 5G Non-standalone (5G NSA) and 5G Standalone (5G SA) products and solutions.
Ericsson Cloud Packet Core products and solutions were already live in Elisa’s 5G network. As part of the partnership extension, Ericsson said it was deploying its dual-mode 5G Core solution to add support for standalone technology in Elisa’s network.
Under the partnership, the Swedish vendor will deploy 5G RAN products and solutions, from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio, starting next year. The network operates on 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz frequency bands.
Ericsson Spectrum Sharing for both 5G Standalone and 5G Non-Standalone will also be deployed as part of the deal.
Meanwhile, Nokia announced that it has also been selected by Elisa as a nationwide supplier of 5G RAN equipment. Nokia, which will provide its AirScale 5G RAN portfolio, says it will deliver ultra-fast mobile broadband services to both consumer and enterprise customers.
Nokia said it will supply its AirScale 5G Radio Access portfolio for enhanced mobile connectivity, as well as additional use cases such as Massive IoT and Ultra-Reliable Low Latency services (URLLC).
Elisa initially launched its commercial 5G network in 2019 and now offers this technology in several cities across Finland including Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa, Oulu and Turku.
