Asia Pacific Telecom, Ericsson and Qualcomm achieve first new radio dual-connectivity in Taiwan
- The NR-DC trial was conducted on a combination of mid-band and high-band (mmWave) spectrum using Ericsson Standalone 5G Core architecture
- The trial achieved uplink peak rates of 600Mbps and downlink peak rates of 2.2Gbps, with a shortened latency of 5ms, boosting network efficiency by 50 percent.
- The first data call marks a milestone in Taiwan’s evolution to 5G Standalone with mmWave, which will enable more innovative applications in both the enterprise and consumer segments.
Asia Pacific Telecom (APT), in partnership with Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced a successful completion of Taiwan’s first data call with 5G New Radio Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) by aggregating APT’s spectrum holdings across mid-band (2.6GHz) and high-band (28GHz, or mmWave) frequencies. The trial marks a milestone in Taiwan’s evolution to 5G Standalone networks and opens a vast number of possibilities for the development of innovative applications.
The demonstration was conducted with Ericsson’s 5G RAN and cloud-native 5G core on a device powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X65 5G Modem-RF System on APT’s 5G network. The demo, using Ericsson’s NR-DC software feature with uplink four-component carrier aggregation (UL 4CC CA), in which four contiguous carriers of 100MHz are combined, resulted in high data speeds of 600Mbps in uplink and 2.2Gbps in downlink peak rates, while shortening the latency to 5ms. This not only boosted network performance but also extended the coverage with aggregation capability. The NR-DC functionality was enabled by Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core, which is built on cloud-native, microservices-based architecture. Combining Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and 5G Core (5GC) network functions, the multi-access and programmable 5GC solution supports 5G and as well as previous generations for total cost of ownership (TCO) efficiency with enhanced automation and simplified operations.
The capabilities of 5G SA NR-DC technology will empower the advancement of future applications requiring high performance and low latency for both consumers and enterprises. End-users will benefit from higher data rates in both downlink and uplink, while increased speed and coverage will accelerate the migration to 5G. Industry applications can range from real-time automation to smart surveillance, remote operations, robotic control and much more. By leveraging APT’s 5G assets and capacity, the development is critical to revolutionize an array of verticals while nurturing more innovations in the ecosystem.
Steven Chen, Chairman and President of Asia Pacific Telecom says: “We are very pleased to achieve Taiwan’s first NR-DC in mmWave with Ericsson and Qualcomm. Our goal is to build an ecosystem and incubate more local startups, and the success in NR-DC will contribute positively to our ecosystem partners. Growing performance with greater responsiveness and reliability will lay a solid foundation for innovative applications across business, industry, and society.”
David Chou, President of Ericsson Taiwan says: “As we evolve to the 5G standalone architecture, cloud infrastructures will allow communication service providers to build their network in more dynamic aspects and prepares the system for flexible updates in the future while capturing new 5G business opportunities. We will continuously collaborate with APT to develop more innovative applications and to accelerate the digitalization of Taiwan’s industry and economy.”
ST Liew, Vice President, QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. and President of Qualcomm Taiwan & SEA says: ”Qualcomm is enabling a world where everyone and everything is intelligently connected. Snapdragon X65 is Qualcomm Technologies’ 4th generation 5G mmWave Modem-RF System, which is able to extend mmWave capabilities for global expansion while enhancing coverage, power efficiency and performance for users. Our collaboration with APT and Ericsson exemplifies how we are actively cooperating with ecosystem partners in continually driving 5G mmWave commercialization and leading the way in the 10 Gigabit 5G era.”