VANCOUVER – Telus and Huawei say that they have achieved a significant breakthrough in the race to 5G after completing a 5G wireless connection using the global 3GPP technology standards platform at their joint 5G "Living Lab" in Vancouver.
The successful pilot not only demonstrates the dramatically faster wireless speeds customers will enjoy as 5G technology becomes mainstream – up to 200 times faster than current LTE networks, says the release, it also showcases the potential for 5G technology to deliver Wireless-to-the-Premise (WTTx) connectivity with speeds and reliability necessary to power the smart homes and businesses of tomorrow.
The pilot network was set up to reflect a real-world point-to-multi-point connection over commercial central office equipment and transport networks. The network leveraged equipment based on 3GPP 5G foundational technologies over a 28 GHz connection, although the 5G standards body will not be finalized until early 2018.
"We are extremely proud that Canadian-led talent and expertise is at the forefront of global 5G research and technology deployment. 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 Telus’ EVP of technology strategy Eros Spadotto, in the release. "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."
