Samsung Electronics America and Verizon are expected to begin limited trials of 5G connections by 2017, the companies say.
This week the two companies announced that they had finished the installation of 5G systems across five US cities. Pre-Commercial testing began in late 2016 and achieved multi-gigabit throughputs at distances of up to 1,500 feet nearly 500 meters.
Cities included in the trial are New Jersey, Massachusetts, Texas and Washington, D.C, with Michigan to begin testing later in Q2. The locations have been chosen in order to accurately gather a range of data based on population density, terrain, and neighbourhood layouts.
Youngky Kim, President and Head of the Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. said: “We are excited to deliver the first end-to-end 5G connectivity in the United States with Verizon.”
“This represents a major leap forward in offering 5G fixed wireless access to consumers. The 5G challenges we will address, and the customer feedback we receive will help lay the foundation for future business models and customer applications.”
The trials themselves will involve the use of 28GHz millimetre wave spectrum and advance beam forming antenna technology. Access Units will also be installed throughout residential and business areas of the cities which will be linked to a visualised core network within Verizon’s data centres. The technology is largely software driven.
Roger Gurnani, Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Technology Architect, Verizon said: “We are pleased about the progress made with partners like Samsung on advancing 5G technology commercially.”
“Delivering 5G to these pilot customers is an important step in assessing the business model and customer experience for delivering wireless broadband via 5G. Samsung’s early and extensive development in 5G has been valuable in contributing to Verizon’s 5G Technology Forum progress.”
The news comes recently after Samsung announced that its 5G chipset is ready for commercial release.
