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The call was made in partnership with Telstra, Swisscomm, OPPO and Qualcomm
Swedish network equipment provider, Ericsson, has completed the first trans-continental 5G call using its Spectrum Sharing technology.
Ericsson completed the call between Bern in Switzerland and Australia’s Gold Coast, using Swisscom and Telstra’s 5G networks. The call was made using an OPPO 5G handset, which uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 5G chipset.
Spectrum Sharing technology allows operators to use the same spectrum for both 4G and 5G services, depending on the demands of their network.
“This industry-first highlights the value that Ericsson Spectrum Sharing has to communication service providers as they roll-out and ramp-up 5G. With this milestone achieved with our 5G ecosystem partners OPPO, Qualcomm Technologies, and customers Swisscom and Telstra, we’ve shown that our unique solution will not only enable service providers to re-use their 4G spectrum assets for 5G but that it will also support all 5G devices. It is the most economically feasible way to launch 5G on existing bands, enabling nationwide 5G coverage and helping make 5G accessible around the world,” said Fredrik Jejdling, executive vice president and head of networks at Ericsson.
Ericsson said that the success of the end-to-end trial was a huge step towards the full commercialisation of its Spectrum Sharing technology. The company says that the new technology will offer operators the chance to ramp up their fledgling 5G networks, particularly while there is a paucity of spectrum.
“This latest collaboration of industry partners is paving the way for the faster rollout of 5G by using existing spectrum holdings to serve the needs of 4G and 5G customers in the same location at the same time. This collective implementation is yet another innovative example of how 5G technology continues to advance in a rapid fashion, and at Telstra we are pleased to bring that latest technology to Australians first,” said Channa Seneviratne, network and engineering infrastructure executive at Telstra.
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