Samsung Electronics, on Thursday, announced it achieved the industry’s fastest 5G speeds after a demonstration in a lab. The company said they reached speeds that could download ultra-high-definition video content in a matter of seconds.
The lab demonstration combined 800-megahertz (MHz) of millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum with “Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO)” technology. The test ran on Samsung’s world-leading 5G mmWave Access Unit.
Samsung used two mobile test devices, both achieving about 4.3-gigabyte per second (Gbps) speeds each, and attaining an industry peak speed of 8.5 Gbps. The electronics giant used two key technologies, carrier aggregation and MU-MIMO, to achieve the data transfer speeds.
“Carrier aggregation “combines two or more frequency bands into a single data channel, increasing maximum data capacity and enhances speed. Meanwhile, MU-MIMO is a wireless communication technology that allows wireless devices or terminals to communicate with one another. Home Wi-Fi expansion commonly uses MU-MIMO technology through multiple routers.
Park Hyun-ho, Samsung’s network business vice president, said that the demonstration highlights mmWave’s potential to offer new kinds of business use and create opportunities for mobile operators.
Millimeter wavelength (mmWave) refers to the high-band spectrum in the cellular industry, and it allows about 28 GHz of frequency. 5G mmWave is considerably faster than 4G networks that use approximately 700 MHz to 2500 MHz frequency to transfer information.
mmWave’s wide bandwidth allows mobile operators to offer multi-gigabit speeds that lower band spectrums could not match. With lightning-fast speeds, users could experience transformational 5G services such as 8K ultra-high-definition video streaming. Also, with the new 5G technology, mobile carriers could broadcast virtual and augmented reality content.
Samsung’s 5G Expansion
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) said that South Korea’s average 5G download speed is 111.8 Mbps.
The U.S. Federal Communication Commission held three mmWave spectrum auctions. The most recent auction, completed last January, of 47 GHz and 37-39 GHz spectrum raised more than $7 billion (8.5 trillion won).
Samsung Networks has been supporting 5G commercial services in leading industries, including South Korea and the U.S. Both countries are currently the largest commercial deployments in terms of 5G subscriber count. The company now actively supports the commercial implementation of the 5G network in Japan, and New Zealand.
Park said that the company looks forward to advancing the major technical breakthrough to continue towards a vibrant and innovative mmWave ecosystem.
