BELLEVUE, Wash.—T-Mobile said that working with Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, it has broken another world record with its 5G standalone (SA) network reaching peak uplink speeds of over 2.2 Gigabits per second.
The test is an important development for broadcast crews needing fast uplink speeds to send content from sports venues, T-Mobile said.
The speeds were achieved by leveraging an emerging feature called New Radio Dual Connectivity (5G DC). With 5G DC, T-Mobile was able to massively increase uplink throughput and capacity, reaching peak speeds of 2.2 Gbps in a demo that demonstrates the technology’s potential to create serious efficiencies in how data is transmitted from devices to the network, the companies said.
5G DC enabled T-Mobile to aggregate 2.5 GHz and mmWave spectrum, allowing for a massive improvement in uplink throughput and capacity. In this test, T-Mobile was able to allocate 60% of the mmWave radio resources for uplink, whereas previous use cases typically allowed up to 20%. The test was completed on T-Mobile’s 5G SA production network in SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, with equipment and 5G DC solution from Ericsson and a mobile test smartphone powered by a flagship Snapdragon X80 5G Modem-RF System from Qualcomm.
“With 5G DC, T-Mobile is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible to create better experiences in the places that matter most to our customers,” T-Mobile President of Technology Ulf Ewaldsson said. “This accomplishment is a testament to the network we’ve built over the last five years and our ability to deliver unparalleled capabilities that extend beyond the devices in our pockets.”
Download speeds typically reign as the top network performance metric, but with recent strides in uplink capabilities and increasingly demanding tasks, upload speed is becoming more important than ever, especially for live events, mobile gaming and extended reality applications, the companies said.
Because of this, SoFi Stadium served as the perfect test site for 5G DC. Every year, millions of people flock to the stadium for football games or to catch their favorite artists in concert. Naturally, all these people want to post, livestream and share their experiences in real time, which can sometimes be a challenge at crowded events with limited capacity.
In addition, broadcast crews need the capacity to upload high-definition content to production teams in real time. With 5G DC and T-Mobile, all of this gets done faster than ever, alleviating posting FOMO and production crew headaches.
“High uplink speeds are essential for delivering immersive experiences and reliable 5G connectivity,” Ericsson Head of Product, Area Networks Mårten Lerner said. “This mirrors one of our key objectives with the recent launch of Ericsson 5G Advanced, which is to elevate user experience by enhancing network performance for more interactive applications. This 5G uplink speed milestone, achieved with T-Mobile and Qualcomm, underscores our commitment to taking user experience to unprecedented levels.”
Added Qualcomm Vice President, Product Management Sunil Patil: “We are incredibly proud to achieve yet another world record with T-Mobile. This groundbreaking achievement shows what could be possible with 5G DC and how it can bring new, unparalleled experiences to consumers, especially at large events like football games and concerts. We will continue our close collaboration with global innovators like T-Mobile and Ericsson to push the boundaries and unlock the full potential of 5G.”
