Vodafone UK signs 5G radio technology deal with Ericsson

Vodafone keen to be seen pioneering 5G communications in the UK

Vodafone UK, the mobile telecoms operator, has signed a deal with Ericsson, for the provision of 5G radio technology as it prepares for the introduction of 5G in London.

The agreement covers trials, product validation and commercial deployment, as well as professional services.

The deal will see Swedish telecoms equipment company Ericsson provide technology that aims to boost Vodafone's 4G coverage - this includes Massive MIMO technology, which Ericsson said uses ‘advanced antenna arrays' to improve the quality of radio signals and capacity, and carrier aggregation, which combines different cellular frequencies to increase capacity and user data rates.

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding the will cover several areas of collaboration including 5G radio non-standalone and standalone technology, 5G site deployment scenarios, and 5G business case studies and proof of concept.

In addition, the two companies will work on existing 4G technologies, new radio (NR) simulations such as 3.5 GHz and mmWave, and distributed cloud and network slicing proof of concept that incorporates end-to-end latency and cloud-optimized network applications.

"We are continually enhancing our network to optimize performance and give our customers the best possible experience. We will continue to expand our 4G network and develop greater capabilities for our customers. We look forward to continuing to work with Ericsson in order to achieve our goals," said Jorge Fernandes, technology director at Vodafone UK,

"We are working with Vodafone UK to evolve its 4G network and test new 5G technologies. Together we will enable ubiquitous connectivity for their users that enable entirely new experiences, as well as monitoring and control of IoT in real time," said Arun Bansal, head of Europe and Latin America for Ericsson said.

A recent report by Ericsson suggested that 3GPP's decision to approve initial 5G standardization will mean that by 2022, there will be more than half a billion 5G subscriptions, with a population coverage of 15 per cent. It also claimed that 5G would drive adoption of IoT in smart cities.