T-Mobile US has teamed with top network and handset vendors on a series of standalone (SA) 5G tests to demonstrate end-to-end system readiness, furthering preparations for a commercial launch later this year.
Along with Cisco, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia and Qualcomm, T-Mobile claimed several SA 5G milestones, including the first data session between commercial modems from different suppliers; a low-band voice call with LTE fallback; low-band Voice over New Radio (VoNR) call; and Video over New Radio (ViNR) call.
It also completed the first VoNR and ViNR calls using a commercial device, the OnePlus 8.
The news comes as technology vendors battle to claim SA 5G firsts: Huawei was first out of the gates with a VoNR call in May 2019, though Qualcomm and ZTE subsequently claimed the first 3GPP standards-based variant in January.
Last month, Ericsson, MediaTek and Oppo completed voice and video calls using the new architecture.
T-Mobile says SA 5G will enable faster speeds and lower latency by eliminating network limitations associated with the use of 4G in non-standalone (NSA) operation.
President of technology Neville Ray stated its trials “mark a huge step forward for the entire wireless ecosystem”.
All tests used T-Mobile’s 600MHz 5G network and newly-built SA core. During testing, SA and NSA 5G devices were able to maintain active sessions simultaneously on the same cell, it said.
Source: https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/top-three/t-mobile-partners-trial-sa-5g/