Verizon and Ericsson trial 5G across the US

• Customer pilot using Ericsson's 5G solution moves Verizon closer to deployment
• End-to-end 5G deployed within Verizon's network
• Field results demonstrate viability of 5G fixed wireless access

Verizon and Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC ) are taking 5G from technology trials to pre-commercial pilots in the field in multiple cities across the United States. The fixed wireless, pre-commercial customer pilots, scheduled to begin in the 1 ^st half of 2017, will enable the refining of an end-to-end 5G network using a mixture of new technology and existing Verizon infrastructure.

By working closely with Verizon, Ericsson has been able to identify deployment challenges and develop the techniques required for a quick and scalable deployment. 

Ed Chan, Senior VP, Technology Strategy and Planning at Verizon, says: "Verizon is driving the commercial deployment of 5G with the collaboration and innovation of the Verizon 5G Technology Forum, including partners like Ericsson. This partnership keeps us on-track to be first to bring 5G to Verizon customers."

The end-to-end 5G pre-commercial customer pilot begins in the subscriber location. Fixed wireless subscribers will use a variety of applications, many of them centered on video, bi-directional and/or low-latency. Ericsson has been field testing various applications across the 5G network to evaluate the application behavior.

Arun Bansal, Head of Business Unit Network Products at Ericsson, says: "Ericsson 5G Radios have been providing multi-gigabit speeds into subscriber locations by using advanced radio techniques. For example, beamforming can be used to find the best path for the 28GHz radio signal to reach the user."  

5G technologies in both the radio and the core network will enable operators to provide new services to their customers due to higher bandwidth and lower latency. The fully virtualized core enables network slicing, with fixed being the first slice of many for the next generation core network.

Verizon's pre-commercial customer pilot will span multiple deployment scenarios, geographies and RF morphologies. New techniques are being developed in order to meet the constraints associated with massive 5G small cell deployments. The learnings from the pilot are vital to a scalable deployment.

Leading the way in 5G

According to the Ericsson Mobility Report, there will be 550 million 5G subscriptions globally in 2022. North America is projected to lead the way with 25 percent of all mobile subscriptions forecast to be 5G by 2022, representing the highest market penetration in the world.

Ericsson at Mobile World Congress 2017

Anything can happen on the digital frontier, a promising but undiscovered future. From February 27 to March 2 in Barcelona, Spain, Ericsson is demonstrating a collaborative approach and innovative solutions to succeed in this arena.

With our customers and partners, we work across industries, physical boundaries and perceived limitations. Join us in Hall 2 or online during MWC 2017 and engage in conversations and demonstrations about our favorite things: 5G; platforms and services for IT, Cloud, Networks, and TV & Media; connected solutions for industries; the Internet of Things; and partnering for success.

See you there!

NOTES TO EDITORS

Ericsson is a world leader in communications technology and services with headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Our organization consists of more than 111,000 experts who provide customers in 180 countries with innovative solutions and services. Together we are building a more connected future where anyone and any industry is empowered to reach their full potential. Net sales in 2016 were SEK 222.6 billion (USD 24.5 billion). The Ericsson stock is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and on NASDAQ in New York. Read more on  www.ericsson.com .

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