Page 85 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2020

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

DOCOMO, Fujitsu and NEC Claim ‘World First’ CA Using 5G Frequencies on

Multi-Vendor RAN

NTT DOCOMO, Fujitsu and NEC claim to
have achieved the ‘world’s first carrier
aggregation [CA] using 5G frequency
bands in a multi-vendor Radio Access
Network (RAN)’. In a joint press release, the
companies said that interoperability with
multi-vendor 5G base station equipment
was achieved ‘in compliance with
specifications established by the Open
Radio Access Network (O-RAN) Alliance’.
DOCOMO confirmed that CA used the
3.7GHz and 4.5GHz bands designated for
5G networks, and noted that by bundling
LTE bands, downlink speeds of 4.2Gbps
‘will be achievable, enabling ultra-fast
data transmission’. The statement
went on to point out: ‘DOCOMO already
provides commercial 5G services in Japan
through a multi-vendor RAN that connects
baseband units and remote radio units
manufactured by Fujitsu and NEC based
on O-RAN’s open fronthaul specifications.
The same system configuration was used NEC also announced that they have Alliance specifications, with 5G base
to achieve this 5G carrier aggregation.’ successfully expanded multi-vendor station remote radio units (5G-RUs) of
Going forward, the three firms will continue interoperability by ‘interconnecting a new other vendors on DOCOMO’s commercial
working toward the early introduction of 5G base station baseband unit (5G-CU/ network’. The move should make it easier
commercial 5G CA services, they said. DU), developed by NEC and Samsung to drive the rapid and flexible deployment
In a related development, DOCOMO and Electronics and compliant with O-RAN of 5G services across Japan.

Tri Works With DOCOMO on Narrow Beam Antenna Deployment

Mobile operator Hutchison 3 Indonesia beam antennas on top of a mobile tower Jatinegara, Meruya and Bintaro. The cellco
(Tri) has said it is working with Japanese boosts signal strength and penetration says that improving network quality is core
counterpart NTT DOCOMO to deploy Narrow into buildings in metropolitan areas, where to its drive to provide ‘the best service for
Beam Antenna technology in its networks the highest portion of its mobile data traffic its users in more than 34,000 villages in
in a bid to reduce the incidence of ‘network originates. 3 Indonesia has so far deployed Indonesia through its 4.5G Pro network,
instability’, specifically in tall buildings. the technology in six Jabodetabek areas [the availability of] which ‘is now wider and
IndoTelko notes that installing narrow- – Kuningan, Casablanca, Pancoran, stronger,’ it claims.

T-Mobile, Ericsson Achieve ‘Peak Cell Throughput’ Of 5.6Gbps

T-Mobile US and Ericsson have teamed of Sprint. T-Mobile explained: ‘Using a of hitting more than 350Mbps. And with
up to stage a 16-layer Multi MIMO commercially available Massive MIMO two data streams for each device, that’s
demonstration, showcasing peak cell radio with 64 antennas from Ericsson and 700Mbps for each smartphone, all using
throughput of more than 5.6Gbps. The the OnePlus 8 5G smartphones T-Mobile the same radio resources at the same
trial utilized one channel of the 2.5GHz sells today, 16 unique streams of data time.’
spectrum acquired via T-Mobile’s takeover were transmitted – each stream capable

85 SEP-OCT 2020