Ericsson and Swisscom have announced the completion of what they describe as Europe’s first end-to-end, multi-vendor 5G NR call, carried out in the Swiss city of Burgdorf.
The call took place on Swisscom’s 3GPP-compliant network using Ericsson radio equipment and the Ericsson Cloud Packet Core, a platform designed to deliver converged communication services across mobile networks.
This achievement builds on the existing collaboration between the two companies. In November, Swisscom selected Ericsson as its strategic supplier for Gigabit LTE and 5G, a partnership intended to modernize Switzerland’s network infrastructure through 2020. Earlier this year, the partners also showcased end-to-end network slicing during Mobile World Congress.
“We’ve raised the bar on our strategic partnership with Swisscom with these new milestones,” said Fredrik Jejdling, executive vice president and head of business area networks at Ericsson. “By achieving an end-to-end data call on the 3.5 GHz band and kick-starting the 5G network rollout, we are helping Swisscom bring 5G services to customers more quickly.”
Jejdling added that access to new technologies will enable industries across Switzerland to prepare for 5G use cases that can drive economic and social benefits.
Switzerland’s path to 5G involves careful regulatory planning. The Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) has provisionally scheduled the country’s 5G spectrum auction for January 2019. The auction is expected to include blocks in the 700 MHz, 1,400 MHz, 2,600 MHz and 3.5 GHz bands, with Swisscom, Sunrise Communications and Salt SA anticipated to participate.
Following Swisscom’s Q2 2018 results, CEO Urs Schaeppi told analysts he was confident of delivering a strong customer experience once the auction concludes. Schaeppi confirmed that Swisscom would accept a maximum spectrum allocation of 49% to preserve market competition. ComCom’s auction documents stressed the importance of enabling each operator, subject to their willingness to pay, to acquire the frequencies needed for a 5G rollout.
Ericsson’s announcement noted that Swisscom intends to be the first mobile operator in Switzerland to offer commercial 5G services, subject to the final outcome of the national spectrum allocation process.
Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss topics like this and share real-world use cases? Attend co-located events such as the IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, AI & Big Data Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo, which take place in major tech hubs including Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam. These events bring together enterprise technology professionals to explore the future of connectivity, data and security.