Sprint and Nokia conduct live 5G demo in Santa Clara

• Collaboration represents one of first 5G demonstrations in a sports arena environment
• Live demonstration of streaming 4K ultra high-definition video experience to showcase high bandwidth of 5G technology

3 June, 2016

Santa Clara, California, USA – Nokia continues to accelerate the testing and advancement of 5G technology by collaborating with Sprint to showcase one of the first 5G system demonstrations at a large scale public event. The demonstration, at Sprint’s experience tent at Levi's® Stadium, will highlight the wireless delivery of a 4K ultra high-definition video experience over 5G.

Nokia’s demonstration with Sprint is part of the operator’s 5G roadmap to develop and test emerging 5G technologies that promise to deliver faster speeds, lower latency and exponentially more Internet-connected devices. The two companies will also showcase the demo in a follow up event at Levi’s Stadium on June 6.

Nokia and Sprint will demonstrate the delivery of broadband services over wireless with a 4K ultra HD video, both pre-recorded and live, in which attendees will be able to view this content on 4K capable TVs. This highlights the high bandwidth of 5G. In addition, the companies will show the various performance characteristics of mmWave radio propagation through different types of building materials to prove the viability of this technology.

Nokia 5G demo system at a glance:

• Nokia is using a live mmWave system running at 73GHz that supports beam steering.
• The system performs link speeds up to 2.3 Gbps with a spectral bandwidth of 1GHz and ~1ms one way air interface latency.
• Delivery of the ultra HD 4K video content uses a single endpoint on the 5G wireless network with superior speed of traffic and data throughput.

Dr. John Saw, CTO at Sprint, said:

“This demonstration of 5G capabilities is one of several steps we’re taking to bring 5G capabilities into field trials. We look forward to leveraging our deployment experience and working closely with Nokia to expand the use of 2.5 GHz and higher band spectrum as we evolve to 5G.”

Ricky Corker, executive vice president and head of North America for Nokia, said :

“We are excited that Sprint is showcasing 5G, further underscoring the U.S.’s commitment to and leadership of this important communications revolution. As a front-runner in the 5G race, Nokia is working to advance 5G end-to-end solutions globally. We’ve been a long standing partner of Sprint, and now we will work closely with them to deliver commercial ready solutions in line with their plans.”

Did you know?

Nokia is preparing for the commercial reality of 5G by providing solutions that will allow operators to quickly transition from field trials to commercial deployments. Nokia is the first equipment vendor to run 5G radio access on a commercially available base station.

Nokia collaborates with leading universities in China, Europe and the U.S. to improve its capabilities in 5G technologies and to share knowledge about such technologies. Nokia also runs several 5G-related industry projects in Europe, chairs the 5G-PPP association and runs 5G innovation projects with major operators worldwide.

A new mobility report by Bell Labs Consulting, a division of Nokia Bell Labs research, estimates that by 2020 global consumption demand for digital content and services on mobile and portable devices will see a global average increase of 30 to 45 times from 2014 levels — with some markets experiencing as much as a 98 times jump. Audio and video streaming traffic will also account for 79 percent of increased 2020 traffic.