5G: Qualcomm and Ericsson have extended their 4G collaboration to 5G technology development and early interoperability testing as well as coordination on select initiatives with leading mobile operators. The companies will engage in early trials and verification of key 5G technology components to support the technical work required for 3GPP standardization in Release 15, which is expected to be completed in 2018.
In addition, Qualcomm and Ericsson have jointly demonstrated MulteFire - an emerging, LTE-based technology solely for unlicensed spectrum - at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The live demo uses the commercial Ericsson Radio Dot System running in the 3.5 GHz band and Qualcomm’s pre-commercial devices in combination with the Ericsson Virtual Evolved Packet Core, showcasing benefits and key use cases for operators, building owners and systems integrators seeking to collaboratively address coverage issues.
IoT: ZTE has signed a strategic agreement with TeliaSonera to collaborate in the IoT segment with initially focus on telematics solutions. ZTE said it will develop telematics solutions through its ZTE Welink subsidiary, which focuses on the development of wireless communication modules, telematics terminals and solutions. The subsidiary will undertake a major part of the telematics research and development process.
Separately, Gemalto and Jasper have formed a partnership to simplify global deployment of IoT devices and services through on-demand subscription management. Jasper will integrate its IoT service platform with Gemalto’s LinqUs On-Demand Connectivity, thereby removing the complexity of deploying connected services for mobile operators, device manufacturers, and application providers. Customers can provision and manage subscriptions on devices remotely via a single embedded SIM (eSIM), resulting in more efficient and cost-effective deployment models while enabling rapid distribution and device activation.