Using Ericsson’s New Radio-Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) software, a smartphone test device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System on Telstra’s network at a live demo site in Queensland, Australia, the team reached a record uplink data speed of close to 1Gbps.
Delivering uplink peak rates of close to 1Gbps will enable Telstra to more than double the current uplink throughput in its 5G network according to the company. This can be used to support applications and services that involve uploading vast amounts of data including live video streaming and extended reality (XR).
Achieving the theoretical maximum uplink speed of 986 Mbps during the test came by integrating four contiguous component 100MHz carriers of millimeter wave, combining with the 100MHz of 3.6GHz spectrum across 5G New Radio (5G NR) frequency. The high uplink peak rate was reached by combining the data rates from both mid-band and high band.
Sibel Tombaz, head of product line 5G RAN at Ericsson, said: “We continue to pursue new and innovative ways of enhancing the end-user impact of 5G.
“An uplink speed of close to 1Gbps using NR-DC and four-component carrier aggregation is the latest in a series of 5G milestones we have achieved in collaboration with Telstra and Qualcomm Technologies. This means users can enjoy vastly improved experiences from applications where quicker upload time makes a difference.”
The testing was conducted at Telstra’s 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) and marks the latest in what group executive Nikos Katinakis described as “a history of world firsts with Ericsson and Qualcomm”. In 2016 the three companies broke the 1Gbps barrier on 4G, launched the first 2Gbps LTE technology back in 2018 and in January 2021 set a new download record on 5G of 5Gbps for a single user.
The UL 4CC carrier aggregation software used during the test will become commercially available worldwide in the second quarter of 2022 according to Ericsson.
