Wireless equipment giant Ericsson has reached delivery rates of 4.3 Gbps using 800 MHz of millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum in what the company claims is the fastest 5G speed to date.
The test was done at Ericsson Radio System Street Macro 6701 where the network delivered data with downlink speeds of 4.3 Gbps over-the-air. The commercial offering of this network will be available to 5G consumers later in 2020, Ericsson said.
The equipment used was a combination of Ericsson’s radio system solutions and 8CC software aggregating 800 MHz of 5G mmWave spectrum band.
The fast download speeds for enhanced mobile broadband could enable easier multi-player gaming, augmented reality gaming and video streaming of high bandwidth content. Fixed wireless access could also take advantage of cellular mmWave connectivity that is up to four times faster than fiber.
“To put 4.3 Gbps in context, that is the equivalent of downloading one hour of ultra-high-definition, or 4K, content from a streaming service in just 14 seconds,” said Per Narvinger, head of product area networks at Ericsson, in a statement. “The 8CC aggregation solution we have successfully tested will enable not only higher speeds but also large-scale 5G deployments and new business opportunities.”
Previously, the fastest download speed claimed by a company was AT&T when it achieved 2 Gbps in April 2019. Ericsson achieved 3 Gpbs LTE-5G dual connectivity speed at last year’s Mobile World Congress 2019.
For now, achieving these download speeds is merely a demonstration of what companies can do versus what consumers can consistently get when downloading content. Coverage is limited in many cities and the networks that have been deployed are in the sub-6 GHz range. So, if consumers can find a connection, it may not be strong enough to garner these speeds until a greater infrastructure is established. Since 5G was launched last year, much progress has been made to provide greater coverage, but more is expected to come in 2020 along with software upgrades that will allow for faster speeds on 5G smartphones that have already come out and those expected to be launched this year.
