Regional US mobile operator US Cellular says it has tested fixed wireless 5G with Ericsson in Wisconsin, achieving speeds of up 9-Gbits, albeit at a range of less than 1,000 feet.
US Cellular says it worked with Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) to run a 5G test at 15GHz, under a special license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) . The test took place in Madison, Wisconsin. The tests achieved peak speeds of 1.5-Gbit/s at a connection distance of a mile, and 9-Gbit/s at 787 feet.
"The trial was focused on fixed wireless," a spokeswoman for US Cellular told Light Reading. Also tested were radio resource sharing, beamforming, beam tracking, peak throughput and multiple input multiple output [MIMO] antennas.
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US Cellular has already tested 5G at 28GHz with Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) this year. (See US Cellular Fixin' to Test 5G With Nokia.)
US Cellular says it will continue collaborating with Ericsson on developing 5G standards. The operator, however, will need to pick different high-band frequencies if it wants to eventually go commercial with fixed 5G.
The FCC says it will open up the 28GHz, 37GHz and 39GHz bands for 5G use in the future, but not the 15GHz band. (See 5G in US: Will Spectrum Be the Speed Bump?)
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading