du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, has announced that it will be working with Nokia to trial 3GPP standardised 5G New Radio non-standalone technology, and subsequently deploy live 5G sites in selected areas in the UAE.
The move, according to the telco, is in line with the UAE Telecom Regulatory Authority’s, TRA, vision to bring 5G services in the country in 2018
The partnership entails conducting trials in live network aim to achieve up to 5 Gbps throughput. This kind of high throughput and ultra-low latency will enable extreme broadband for industrial applications and use-cases such as Augmented Reality, AR, Virtual Reality, VR, e-health, machine-to-machine communications, M2M, and critical communications to enable smart cities and Internet of Things, IoT, and many more previously-unconceivable use cases.
The collaboration aims to test available 5G-ready products from Nokia including its AirScale radio platform and Massive MIMO Antenna based on 3GPP Rel. 15 New Radio non-standalone architecture. In addition, it aims to leverage Nokia’s recently announced state-of-the-art chipset ReefShark for the evolution of du’s network to provide the 5G network of the future.
Saleem AlBlooshi, du’s Chief Infrastructure Officer, said, “TRA’s vision has been the guiding force for our telecommunications sector, and we have been pioneering to introduce advanced services, that has led to the evolution of ICT, and delighting our customers across the country. We have been collaborating with Nokia to develop 5G technology since 2015, and look forward to continue working with Nokia to usher in 5G era in 2018.”
“As EITC group brands, both du and Virgin Mobile customers will eventually benefit from this development. This announcement takes du and virgin mobile customers closer to the 5G era,” he added.
