Deutsche Telekom and Huawei have hit speeds of 70GBps, with Ericsson showing off 25GBps rates, in the latest demonstrations of millimetre wave technology.
The German operator and Chinese vendor said the demo showed how the tech could be used in 5G networks, to deliver “ultra-high” broadband to customers indoors and in highly crowded areas. Potentially a consumer could download a 100GB 4K resolution video in 40 seconds.
The trial used meta-material antennas, which are highly minaturised systems that still manage to deliver beam-forming quality data transfer.
Focal array technology creates pencil beams between the antenna array and user devices. The beams are transferred at the same time and frequency, allowing users to benefit from data speeds of more than 60 times current mobile broadband rates.
Deutsche Telekom and Huawei said mmwave could be used alongside lower frequency bands to improve the quality of customer experience.
Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, Chief Technology Officer, Deutsche Telekom, said: “We have now proven the potential of the advanced mmWave Multi-user MIMO concept for the most extreme 5G use cases. These require that network operators offer ultra-high transmission in crowded areas.”
Wen Tong, Chief 5G scientist, Huawei Wireless CTO, added: “The mmWave Mu-MIMO technology can achieve unprecedented fiber-like speed for mobile broadband access.”
Meanwhile, Ericsson’s MU-MIMO based radio prototypes hit speeds of 25GBps over millimetre wave bands.
Demonstrations were held for executives at NTT DOCOMO and Korea Telecom at Ericsson’s campus in Kista, Sweden.
Dongmyun Lee, Chief Technology Officer at KT, said: “Though our work with Ericsson, KT is on-track to preview the innovative new 5G services at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics. We appreciate that Ericsson is enabling us to trial 5G capabilities with the advanced features, like beam tracking, MU-MIMO and Massive MIMO, that we will need as we plan for 5G commercialisation.”
Millimetre wave is seen as one of the key 5G technologies, with telcos exploring its potential in a range of tests. Nokia has been working with China Mobile and du in separate trials.
In October, Orange got approval to start testing mmwave in Belfort, France.