MediaTek and T-Mobile have recently completed the first 5G New Radio (NR) standalone data call in a multi-vendor environment.
The collaboration between MediaTek and T-Mobile was supported by Ericsson, Nokia, and Cisco. Together, the companies achieved the world's first standalone call in a multi-vendor environment that mirrors actual 5G deployment in T-Mobile's network, taking a significant step towards making 5G standalone networks a reality.
The call was completed using MediaTek 5G M70 Modem. Earlier this year, MediaTek also introduced its groundbreaking 5G chipset, a multi-mode, 7nm 5G system-on-chip (SoC) designed to power the first wave of high-end 5G smartphones. The integrated 5G chipset, with the MediaTek Helio M70 5G modem, built-in packs world-leading technology into its compact design. It includes Arm's newest Cortex-A77 CPU, Mali-G77 GPU and MediaTek's most advanced AI processing unit (APU). The MediaTek multi-mode 5G chipset is for 5G stand alone and non-stand alone (SA/NSA) sub-6GHz networks. It supports connectivity from 2G to 5G.
5G Standalone NR, which will be widely deployed in the 2020 timeframe, is designed to be even more efficient than the preceding LTE and non-standalone variants. Standalone 5G NR, coupled with new 5G Core, will lead to ultra-low latency, better coverage and better capacity for operators. It will pave the way to supercharge applications that require real-time responses and massive connectivity such as mobile augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), cloud gaming, smart factories and meters, and even connected vehicles. The network evolution also provides improved performance and response time to end-users.
MediaTek's 5G M70 Modem supports both non-standalone and standalone 5G network architectures, with a peak throughput of 4.7Gps download (sub-6GHz) and New Radio (NR) Carrier Aggregation (CA) support. The modem also supports Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) to give operators more flexibility in deployment.
This standalone call conducted in a realistic carrier deployment test environment builds on the momentum of MediaTek and Ericsson's standalone 5G call on 2.6 GHz band placed in May 2019.
