South Korea's KT, working in conjunction with Samsung and Qualcomm, has completed multi-vendor 5G new radio (5G NR) interoperability testing compliant with the new 3GPP Release 15 5G NR global standard.
The live, over-the-air interoperability testing demonstrated data connections operating in the 3.5-GHz and 28-GHz bands over pre-commercial 5G NR base stations from Samsung and 5G NR chipset prototypes from Qualcomm.
The companies announced that the achievement is a key milestone on the road towards standard-compliant 5G NR trials commencing this year and commercial 5G NR deployments and smartphone launches next year.
“KT has worked closely with Samsung and Qualcomm Technologies on testing innovative mobile technologies,” said Seo Chang-Seok, KT's executive vice president and head of network strategy.
“KT believes that this 5G NR trial will pave the way to a successful launch of 5G NR networks and mobile devices, which will mark another technology breakthrough beyond the first broad-scale 5G trial services at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.”
Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon added that close collaboration among global mobile industry leaders will be essential to the commercial development of 5G.
“We are proud of our achievement with Samsung and KT and look forward to further collaboration on the path to making 5G a commercial reality,” he said.
Source: https://www.telecomasia.net/content/kt-vendors-complete-5g-nr-interoperability-trials