Samsung conducts first 5G fixed wireless access trial in the UK with Arqiva
Samsung’s network solutions business has been focusing on rapidly commercializing 5G network technologies. It has teamed up with many partners across the globe to conduct 5G trials in key markets. It announced a statement of intent back in February this year to conduct the first 5G fixed wireless access trial in the United Kingdom and Samsung has now done just that.
Samsung has teamed up with Arqiva, a leading communications infrastructure company in the United Kingdom, for this trial. The first field trial of 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technology in the UK and Europe is now live in Arqiva’s central London headquarters. The field trial is powered by Samsung’s 5G network solution that equipment that uses Arqiva’s 28GHz mmWave spectrum.
In this trial, a Radio Access Unit has been installed on the rooftop of Arqiva’s Fitzrovia office. It links wirelessly to an easily installable customer premises equipment. Samsung’s system then provides high bandwidth connectivity.
The commercial application will be a bit different while access units being mounted on lampposts or similar street infrastructure to provide reliable gigabit-per-second internet service to customers in the neighborhood.
The companies aim to demonstrate the stability of the FWA service with this trial and that it’s a fast-to-market and cost-effective alternative to fiber connectivity. The system was able to achieve downlink speeds of around 1GB per second at the premises equipment during this trial.
The trial is going to be live for a period of four months. Samsung and Arqiva will continue to further maximize the performance capability of the system to improve the value of future network infrastructure.
