Arqiva and Samsung announce first 5G Fixed Wireless Access trial in the UK
As BT, Ericsson and King’s College London announced today a collaboration initiative on 5G testing and development, communications infrastructure Arqiva and Samsung Electronics announced a partnership agreement to develop the first field trial of and end-to-end 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network capable of delivering ultrafast speeds (1GBit/s) and a more reliable connectivity to multiple devices. The trial will demonstrate the potential of 5G FWA as an alternative to Fibre to the Home and Fibre to the Building.
Arqiva owns a number of infrastructure assets across the UK, including mobile masts and lampposts which can be used to deploy 5G technologies. It also owns the 28GHz spectrum band to be used for the trial. Samsung’s 5G Access Units use of the spectrum and beam-forming technologies will provide high-density coverage and ultra-high-bandwidth connectivity to Customer Premise Equipment installed in nearby locations (targeting the widest grouping of residential and businesses premises). The Access Units can be self-installed, and therefore reducing costs of roll-out, and can bring users online in a matter of minutes.
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley welcomed this industry initiative as it fits in with the Government’s ambition to make the UK a world leader in 5G; in the Autumn Statement, Government announced an investment of over £1bn in the roll-out of full fibre connections and future 5G communications.
The Arqiva/Samsung trial is set to take place in the second half of 2017 in central London.