Leading telecommunications companies Qualcomm and Ericsson join forces to begin development of global standard 5G base station terminals
'17 Interoperability Test Plan… Development of Global Standard-Based Equipment by Major Telecom and Equipment Manufacturers

SK Telecom (www.sktelecom.com) announced that it has begun designing base station equipment and terminal prototypes based on the 5G specifications set by the global standardization organization 3GPP*, together with Qualcomm and Ericsson.

SK Telecom and Ericsson and Qualcomm, as the top companies in the mobile communications, base station equipment, and chipset sectors respectively, plan to conduct interoperability tests in the second half of 2017 when the first phase of development for 5G base station equipment and terminal prototypes is completed.

In addition, the three companies plan to simultaneously pursue the development of equipment and terminals in frequency bands above 6GHz that can utilize hundreds of MHz of ultra-wide bandwidth, as well as in frequency bands below 6GHz that guarantee wide coverage.

  Last June, SK Telecom , together with Ericsson, launched a 5G initiativeA scene showing the completion of development and demonstration of the inspection net equipment.

In particular, the interoperability test among the three companies in the second half of 2017 will take place about six months ahead of the first half of 2018, when the 3GPP standard is finalized, and is expected to effectively serve as the first verification and standard for the 5G standard set by 3GPP.

The telecommunications industry believes that by the second half of 2017, the phased 5G standardization work at 3GPP is expected to be mostly completed, making it the opportune time to verify the 5G standard proposal.

With the global competition to secure a head start in 5G standardization accelerating recently, the fact that the top companies in the telecommunications sector have jointly announced plans to test interoperability between 5G equipment and terminals based on 3GPP standards is considered to be of great significance for the early commercialization of 5G.

The three companies embarking on equipment development and interoperability this time are attracting attention from the telecommunications industry for their plans to develop and interoperate base station equipment and terminals in the 5G field, given that they not only succeeded in interoperability tests for core technologies such as LTE-A Carrier Aggregation in 2013 but have also been key players in the generational shift of mobile communications.

"As 5G develops at a rapid pace, it is necessary to commercialize 5G based on global standards and build an efficient ecosystem," said Choi Jin-sung, Head of SK Telecom's R&D Center. "It is encouraging to announce plans for 3GPP 5G interoperability with Ericsson and Qualcomm, partners with whom we have jointly developed core technologies for the first time in major mobile communications fields such as 4G."

Matt Grob, Executive Vice President and CTO of Qualcomm, stated, “By collaborating with industry leaders such as SK Telecom and Ericsson, 5G standardization and “We are pleased to have agreed on the development schedule,” he said. “Interoperability testing based on global 3GPP 5G standards will play a very important role in the rapid expansion of the 5G ecosystem.”

Ulf Ewaldsson, Senior Vice President and CTO at Ericsson, stated, “We believe that 5G standard-based testing will accelerate the early commercialization of infrastructure and devices based on global 3GPP 5G standards.”