Ridgefield Park, N.J. - February 22, 2017 - Samsung Electronics America , Inc. and Verizon today announced they have completed deployment of 5G systems in five U.S. cities in preparation to begin customer trials of 5G technology. The customer trials, beginning in April, will deliver fixed wireless access to customers through 5G connectivity in order to gauge user experiences, evaluate the performance of 5G technologies, and help streamline the delivery of mmWave 5G across various environments.
The 5G trials involve innovative network systems, including the use of 28GHz millimeter wave spectrum and advanced beam-forming antenna technology. Samsung's 5G Access Units, installed throughout a city's business and residential neighborhoods, will link radio signals to a virtualized core network that is set up within Verizon's data centers. Samsung's next-generation core solution is software-driven and designed on a scalable platform to accommodate operator needs.
In pre-commercial testing started from early December last year, the 5G system demonstrated multi-gigabit throughputs at radio distances of up to 1,500 feet (500 meters) across each of the different environments selected for the customer trials. The Samsung 5G system is designed to be upgradable to support 3GPP standards for New Radio and Next-Generation Core, once available.