Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Ericsson, Swisscom and Oppo today announced a major step forward in the commercialization of 5G in Europe, demonstrating 5G New Radio Carrier Aggregation across FDD and TDD* bands along with 5G voice over a commercial 5G standalone network at Swisscom’s premises in Bern. The 5G carrier aggregation achievement was completed using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing technology on commercially available infrastructure and a mobile test device powered by the newly announced Snapdragon 888 5G Mobile Platform. The 5G voice (Voice over NR, or VoNR) achievement was completed using Ericsson end-to-end 5G RAN, Core and IMS infrastructure and an Oppo Find X2 Pro handset powered by the Snapdragon 865 5G Mobile Platform with the Snapdragon X55 Modem-RF System.

This significant step forward was a first for Swisscom and underlines the progress towards commercially available 5G SA in Europe in which increased capacity and coverage deliver unparalleled 5G user-experience.

Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president and president, Qualcomm Europe/MEA, QUALCOMM Europe, Inc. said, “This is a significant milestone on what we call the 5G pathway and we congratulate Swisscom, Ericsson and Oppo on the achievements. 5G standalone is a major focus for carriers because of the huge benefits that it not only brings to consumers but also the new opportunities it presents to industries. These demonstrations show how close we are to bringing those benefits to people, and industries, across Europe.”

Arun Bansal, president, Europe and Latin America, Ericsson, says, “Together with Swisscom, we’ve launched the first commercial 5G network in Europe. Now it´s time to team up for another milestone. This 5G standalone achievement is an important step towards unleashing the full potential of 5G. Our reliable, secure and flexible 5G standalone architecture will enable Swisscom to develop and offer innovative use cases, driving digital transformation in Switzerland with our fantastic ecosystem of partners. We are very proud to be Swisscom’s mobile network partner, driving 5G evolution in Europe.”

Christoph Aeschlimann, chief technology and information officer, Swisscom says, “In our labs, we are showcasing that the technologies we invest in today will benefit our customers tomorrow. This was confirmed again recently with Swisscom topping the latest Umlaut Connect best network test in Switzerland for the fourth year in a row. The future of 5G services will be centered around 5G standalone networks, and by investing in 5G standalone, we are also investing in new opportunities for Switzerland, such as through network slicing and dedicated on-premises 5G deployments.”

Maggie Xue, president, OPPO Western Europe said, “It is great to see that we have taken another solid step in the commercialization of 5G standalone in Europe. We believe that in 2021, the development and application of 5G technology will enter the fast lane. OPPO will continue to work with Qualcomm Technologies, Ericsson, and Swisscom to explore the potential of 5G technology and bring a better 5G experience to European consumers.”

5G carrier aggregation extends the coverage of sub-6 GHz TDD bands, which leads to an increased capacity – vital for carriers wanting to meet the ever-increasing demands of data-hungry wireless services and applications. 5G voice allows carriers to offer substantially higher quality voice and video calling, giving users a significantly improved call experience.

5G SA networks will enhance end user experience with faster connection times and immediate access to wide 5G bands. 5G SA will also enable new opportunities and innovation thanks to low latency and end-to-end network slicing that can support a wide suite of consumer and enterprise use cases

• Time-Division Duplex and Frequency-Division Duplex