Far EasTone, in partnership with Ericsson, has launched the first 5G laboratory in Taiwan, as the mobile carrier prepares to roll out pre-commercial services in 2018.
At the launch of the new 5G lab located at T-park, New Taipei City in Taiwan, FET and Ericsson demonstrated a wireless data transfer speed of 1Gbps over Qualcomm Snapdragon SDX16 LTE modem using carrier aggregration and 4x4 MIMO technology.
Ericsson will also provide its newly announced software-driven 5G Plug-Ins, including Massive MIMO Plug-In, Multi-User MIMO Plug-In, RAN Virtualization Plug-In and Intelligent Connectivity Plug-In and Latency Reduction Plug-In, for lab trials.
Herman Rao, EVP of network and technology at FET, said the companies will conduct various 5G tests following the successful demo of 1Gps speed.
Rao said FET expects to introduce pre-commercial 5G service in 2018, before the commercial launch in 2020, with applications initially targeting three key industries - audio and video content, transportation and hydroelectric energy. The company plans to eventually extend 5G services to other segments such as academic institutions, public utilities, industry bodies and enterprises.
The establishment of the lab is part of the 5G partnership the pair signed in June.
Under the partnership the lab is expected to pioneer and innovate technologies such as enhanced network performance, IoT core platform, cloud-based technologies and advanced radio technology.
Both parties will also collaborate and promote the evolution of 4G to 5G technology in Taiwan to academic institutions, public offices, industry bodies and enterprises.