Telus and Huawei say have successfully completed trials of 5G wireless technology using the global 3GPP standards platform.
The pilot resulted in what Huawei says were dramatically faster wireless speeds: up to 200 times faster than current LTE networks. But the company says it also shows the potential for 5G technology to deliver wireless-to-the-premises connectivity as it has the speeds and reliability necessary to power the smart homes and businesses of the future.
The network used equipment based on 3GPP 5G foundational technologies over a 28GHz connection.
"This is an incredibly rewarding accomplishment for our joint Telus and Huawei teams who have worked hard to bring truly state-of-the-art technologies to life," said Eros Spadotto, executive vice president of technology strategy.
"This achievement is an important step forward in aligning our research efforts in 3GPP 5G standards with the practical application for building and deploying 3GPP unified 5G networks around the world" said Wen Tong, Huawei fellow, and chief technology officer of Huawei Wireless at the Canada Research Centre in Ottawa.
The successful pilot is part of Telus and Huawei’s 5G Living Lab in Vancouver. Designed in a real-world setting, both companies have been trialling 5G technologies since 2015. In 2016 it achieved lightening fast speeds of 30 Gbps in a controlled environment and successfully deployed a heterogeneous network in central Vancouver. This latest success demonstrates a real-world point-to-multi-point connection with the low latency and reliability required to power the next generation of home services.
Spadotta added: "These advancements will help Telus drive industry partnerships, develop yet-to-be-invented 5G applications and advance the 5G ecosystem with the ultimate goal of enabling future capabilities that will dramatically improve the lives of Canadians in our ever-changing digital society."
"For the past several years, our Canadian team has played a key global leadership role in 5G. To achieve this successful trial in Canada with a Canadian partner is a powerful reflection on Canada’s 5G innovation capabilities," said Tong.
Though 5G wireless technology becomes commercially available in 2020, thanks to the 5G Living Lab, Telus customers in Vancouver will have early access to this cutting edge technology.