ETISALAT Group and Ericsson, have entered a strategic partnership to develop the next generation of mobile technology: 5G. The two companies will exchange knowledge, share pioneering solutions and tap into the potential of 5G technology, which will help deliver the future Networked Society. Last year Etisalat announced that it was aiming to be the first company in the region to roll out 5G in the coming years and has already demonstrated 115Gbps data transmission rate capability as part of the development of 5G. The technology will be vital to support the growing demand for data required by customers. With faster speeds, lower latency and better performance in highly dense areas, 5G is an evolution of the user experience. In addition, it will enable new device-to-device and Machine-to-Machine applications that will impact traffic safety control, tactile Internet and industry. The partnership will also tap into the potential of the 450Mbps LTE speed that can be accomplished thanks to its License Assisted Access (LAA) technology. LAA will help to improve mobile data speeds and reduce congestion, benefiting all wireless network users, and spearheads the journey to 5G. Hatem Bamatraf, Chief Technology Officer, Etisalat Group, said: “Etisalat is at the forefront of technological development. Our belief in mobile broadband and dedication to innovation drives us to be the first telco to roll out 5G. Partnership is essential to bringing 5G to the market and, through our collaboration with Ericsson, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the full potential of 5G, and subsequently, accelerate the transition to a Networked Society.” Rafiah Ibrahim, President Ericsson Region Middle East and East Africa, said: “Today, Etisalat stands at the forefront of leading the transformation in the Networked Society. With this enormous transformation that our industry is witnessing, Etisalat has a significant role to play – not just in the evolution of communication, but in the evolution of businesses and society as a whole. Through our strategic partnership today, we will explore together with Etisalat the possibilities and opportunities that 5G technology brings.” Ericsson is working to ensure that 5G will enable the thousands of new use cases, to evolve existing technologies, research complementary ones, and work toward a smooth transition to 5G that provides benefit without impact on carbon footprint. The aim of 5G is to build on the maturity that telecom systems have already reached; 5G will bring the evolved versions of existing radio-access, cloud and core technologies together with some new complementary technologies, to cater for more traffic, more devices and more types. 5G is a shift in mind set: moving from the one-size-serves-all networks with vertical infrastructures to agile networks that can be programmatically built for specific high-level use cases. Today's networks support just over 7 billion subscriptions with voice, data and mobile-broadband services. The mobile data traffic in Q1, 2014 exceeded the total mobile data traffic in 2011. In 2020, there will be more than 9 billion subscriptions, and billions of things will be connected – all with varying needs. Some will need low-cost connectivity or solutions that consume a minimal amount of energy. Others will require very high speeds to transfer critical data in real time or will need massive amounts of bandwidth. LAA is an LTE feature that leverages the 5 GHz unlicensed band in combination with licensed spectrum to deliver a performance boost for mobile device users. It is an LTE-Advanced technology that improves mobile data speeds and reduces congestion, benefiting all wireless network users. It enables carrier aggregation of licensed with unlicensed bands to effectively address growth in indoor data traffic. LAA optimizes wireless network resources, and improves app coverage for all users whether their devices are using License Assisted Access, licensed cellular or Wi-Fi. LAA spearheads the journey to 5G, leveraging a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum, and using higher frequency bands on small cell architecture. — SG
