Nokia claims it has achieved the fastest over-the-air 5G speeds using 800 MHz of commercial millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G spectrum and dual connectivity functionality.
The Finnish company achieved up to 4.7 Gbps in tests performed on base station equipment that was deployed in Dallas, Texas, by a major U.S. carrier's commercial network.
Previously, the fastest download speed recorded came from Ericsson earlier this year, which had achieved 4.3 Gbps using 800 MHz of mmWave spectrum. Before that, AT&T reached 2 Gbps in 2019.
Nokia achieved the download speed by combining eight 100 MHz channels of mmWave spectrum on the 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands, providing 800 MHz of bandwidth and 40 MHz of LTE spectrum using the EN-DC functionality available on Nokia’s AirScale solution. EN-DC allows devices to connect simultaneously to 5G and LTE networks, transmitting and receiving data across both air-interface technologies. This allowed the devices to be able to achieve higher download rates compared to just connecting to 5G or LTE alone, Nokia said.
“This is a substantial achievement that reflects the careful workings of a brilliant and subtle team with the deepest appreciation for detail and circumstance,” said Stéphane Téral, chief analyst at LightCounting Market Research. “In other words, 8-component carrier aggregation in the millimeter wave domain shows the world that there is more than massive MIMO and open RAN to not only truly deliver the promise of commercial 5G, but also pave the way for future Terahertz system.”