Economy 19 October 2017, 5:06pm

Ericsson, Magyar Telekom demonstrate first 5G link in Hungary

Portfolio

Ericsson and Magyar Telekom have held a demonstration of the first 5G New Radio at the Ericsson R&D centre in Budapest on Thursday. The first implementation of its kind in Hungary achieved download speeds of 22 gigabits per second (Gbps).

The integrated radio technology of NR enables downlink speeds that are upwards of 20 times faster than today’s technologies

said Gábor Éry, County Manager Ericsson Hungary.

Furthermore, the NR standard is capable of beamforming which enables point-to-point data transmission at very high speeds.

While major deployment of 5G networks is not expected until 2020, development of pre-commercial products, testing and spectrum is ongoing.

Ericsson foresees a huge business potential with 5G and expects that by 2026 there will be a market opportunity of USD 582 billion and the potential to grow revenues by 34%.

Current 4G networks are gradually developing towards 5G technology, and when 5G networks are launched - which is unlikely before 2020 -, the two will work together, Éry added.

5G means a brand new network concept which combines fixed and mobile communication. Its potential lies not in the speed only but in the built-in network intelligence and the collaboration with other technologies

, commented Kim Kyllesbech Larsen, CTIO, Magyar Telekom.

“5G opens up new opportunities also for the operators and thus for Magyar Telekom to offer services connected with IoT and robotics for different sectors like the car industry, health or public service, agriculture, etc. The 5G Coalition tasks to make Hungary one of the European hubs for 5G tests and developments and our joint demonstration with Ericsson Hungary is a good example of the collaboration needed to achieve our goals concerning 5G," he added.

Ericsson and Magyar Telekom, along with Hungarian government bodies, universities, network equipment vendors and independent corporations, are all part of the 5G Coalition in Hungary whose collective goal is to pave the way for the successful introduction of 5G.

Ericsson engineers today demonstrated the latest cellular radio equipment built on the pre-standard 5G New Radio (NR) 3GPP recommendations. The demonstration was operating on the 15GHz frequency band with 800 MHz bandwidth.