Qualcomm’s 5nm Snapdragon X60 modem can use mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G together. But how fast is the 5G network? The previous target was 10Gbps, and now Qualcomm, Ericsson, and Verizon in the U.S. have joined forces to increase the speed of the 28GHz 5G millimeter wave to 5.06Gbps, setting a new record.
5G has two frequency bands, sub-6G, and millimeter-wave. The former is now commercially available with a speed cap of 2.3 Gbps, while the millimeter wave is many times faster, with the previous record being over 4 Gbps.
Now a tripartite partnership between Qualcomm, Ericsson, and Verizon has achieved ultra-fast Internet speeds of 5.06 Gbps using a 5G millimeter wave spectrum and carrier aggregation.
The devices will use 5G communications devices from Ericsson Radio System’s portfolio, as well as smartphone-style 5G test terminals with Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G modem and an RF system with Qualcomm QTM535 third-generation millimeter-wave antenna modules.
The Snapdragon X60 and QTM535 radios were officially launched in February this year. The Snapdragon X60 uses a 5nm process that focuses on improved carrier aggregation capabilities over the previous generation Snapdragon X55, with a broad spectrum mix that allows Aspect operators to flexibly deploy up to 7.5Gbps downlink and 3Gbps uplink.
At this point, 5G networks have not yet reached the speed limit and higher records are expected in the future.
When 5G technology is fully mature, it has the potential to reach speeds of up to 10Gbps, a latency of fewer than 5 milliseconds, and service delivery times of up to 90 minutes. 5G will support wireless connectivity in mobile environments at speeds of up to 500 km/h and will enable the management of more than one million terminals and a data capacity of 10 Tbps per square kilometer.
Commenting on the sudden 5Gbps speeds, Hannes Ekström, head of the 5G product line at Ericsson’s Networks business unit, said, “We are excited to work with Verizon and Qualcomm to push the boundaries of technology and break new records for data rates by achieving data rates in excess of 5Gbps.
This is the highest data rate ever achieved on a single terminal. This speed record demonstrates our success in promoting cooperation with industry and strengthening our technology leadership in the use of the millimeter-wave spectrum. Carrier aggregation technology, with its ability to aggregate large spectrum resources across multiple bands, opens up a tremendous amount of new opportunities”.
Joe Glynn, Qualcomm’s vice president of business development, said: “Based on years of research and development of next-generation wireless connectivity technologies, Qualcomm Technologies’ collaboration with industry leaders Ericsson and Verizon to advance 5G millimeter-wave is a significant milestone in making 5G a commercial reality.
The 5G millimeter wave will enable many new use cases for consumers and businesses and enable today’s mobile devices to take full advantage of millimeter wave’s expanded network capacity, multi-gigabit speeds, and low latency”.