The real-time demonstration also achieved impressive downlink results, reaching 3.3 Gbps and very low latency of eight milliseconds.
Claro, Embratel and Ericsson, in partnership with Qualcomm, achieved the highest peak uplink rate in Latin America on a commercial network during a live demonstration in São Paulo, Brazil.
The demonstration reached an uplink data speed of approximately 700 Mbps, paving the way for differentiated experiences and new use cases for the corporate market, in industrial, health, smart cities and other sectors, as well as for the end consumer in live video streaming and social media content sharing.
Using Claro commercial spectrum enabled by Embratel, Ericsson equipment with New Radio – Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) support and Carrier Aggregation software resources, together with a test smartphone device with the Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System on the Claro network, this new uplink speed record marks another significant step in the collaboration.
The uplink peak occurred by combining medium band and high band (millimeter wave) data rates to fully leverage from the Claro spectrum and improve user experience and application results in businesses.
The demonstration used the Ericsson feature NR-DC with four-component uplink Carrier Aggregation (UL 4CC CA), with four contiguous 100 MHz carriers combined, resulting in higher data speeds.
A peak uplink rate close to 700 Mbps is over 20 times the uplink rate currently being trafficked on networks. That is particularly important to support applications and services that involve uploading large amounts of data.
In addition to the uplink record, the real-time demonstration also achieved impressive downlink results, reaching 3.3 Gbps and very low latency of eight milliseconds – 5G technology offers extremely low latency in the time between sending and receiving information.
The significant results of this low latency and high-speed data transmission demonstration show how we have numerous opportunities to enable 5G applications in several areas of the corporate market, which demand accuracy and security. 5G integrated with emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, Big Data and Machine Learning will drive a revolution for businesses and governments, leveraging innovation in health, industry, smart cities, the financial sector, education and many other sectors.
Marcello Miguel, Executive Director of Marketing and Business, Embratel, said: “Claro and Embratel are always at the forefront of these evolutions, and we are very pleased to count on the partnership of Ericsson and Qualcomm to show all the potential of 5G for Brazil.”
Murilo Barbosa, Business VP, Ericsson, said: “We continue to seek new and innovative ways to increase the impact of 5G on the end-user. An uplink speed of around 700 Mbps using NR-DC and four-component Carrier Aggregation is the latest milestone in many achievements in 5G that we have achieved in collaboration with Claro, Embratel and Qualcomm.”
It means that users can enjoy enhanced experiences in applications where faster upload times and low latency make a difference.
“We are pioneers in the implementation of 5G on five continents and maintain a continuous commitment to supporting our customers on the journey of mobile connectivity evolution,” concluded Barbosa.
Fiore Mangone, Senior Director of Business Development, Qualcomm, said: “Qualcomm Brazil is proud to collaborate with Claro, Embratel and Ericsson on this milestone in 5G, with Dual Connectivity and Carrier Aggregation. By reaching the highest peak uplink rate ever recorded on a commercial network in Latin America and the lowest latency, we are reinforcing our commitment to enabling differentiated 5G experiences across different use cases beyond the smartphone. Together, we are reaching the full potential of 5G through new advancements that will generate transformative benefits for consumers and businesses.”
Technical information
Claro, Embratel, Ericsson and Qualcomm achieved this pioneering result on a commercial network in Brazil – with a maximum uplink speed of 669 Mbps, integrating four 100 MHz millimeter wave (26 GHz) components combined with 100 MHz of spectrum in 3.5 GHz. NR-DC was implemented using the bands of Claro n78 and n258.
The test was on Claro 5G network, installed at its headquarters in São Paulo, using the commercial network resulting in an uplink transfer rate twice as high as the current uplink speed in the market. The demonstration also achieved a 3.312 Gbps downlink and 8 ms latency.
The test device used was a smartphone with the Snapdragon X65 Modem-RF System processor. The network equipment was supplied by Ericsson – Radio System Baseband 6648 and AIR 3227 – for a medium band, widely deployed in Claro’s network and Baseband 6648 with AIR 5322 for a high band (millimeter wave).
