Qualcomm and Ericsson collaborate on 5G to enable timely commercial roll out

Companies extend their 4G collaboration to 5G technology development and early interoperability testing; aim to support trials and commercial network launches tracking 5G standardization

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), through its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) today announced their collaboration on 5G technology development, early interoperability testing and coordination on select initiatives with leading mobile operators. The companies will engage in early trials and verification of key 5G technology components to support the technical work required for 3GPP standardization in Release 15, which is expected to be completed in 2018. In order to enable standards-compliant 5G infrastructure and devices to be available shortly after the completion of Release 15, the companies are also driving interoperability in alignment with 3GPP to enable rapid adoption of new 5G standards.

With decades of experience shaping the evolution of mobile technologies including 3G and 4G LTE, Qualcomm Technologies and Ericsson are working on 5G research and development, standardization, interoperability testing and trials in cooperation with leading operators around the world.

This collaboration will further  the goal of completing the first release of 3GPP 5G standards on time by supporting 3GPP with data from joint trials and will enable the two companies to perform early interoperability testing based on the evolving draft standard. Operators will be able to better understand the capabilities of 5G by trialing interoperable prototypes provided by the two companies with the intent of hastening the rollout of standards-compliant, commercial 5G infrastructure and devices.

In parallel with 5G development, Qualcomm Technologies and Ericsson will continue leading advancements in 4G with 3GPP LTE Advanced Pro, pioneering new technologies such as LTE in unlicensed spectrum (including LTE-U, Licensed-Assisted Access and MulteFire^™), LTE IoT (including eMTC and NB-IOT) and advanced antenna techniques that bring many of the capabilities and use cases envisioned for 5G into today’s LTE networks. The recent successful testing of Gigabit-class LTE with a major operator is an example of how collaboration in 3GPP LTE Advanced Pro will pave the path to envisioning 5G use cases and user experiences.

“As we did in both 3G and 4G, we are excited about collaborating with leading operators and industry stakeholders such as Ericsson in the development of a unified, more capable 5G platform” said Matt Grob, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Now that the vision and interest for 5G are well established, it is time to focus on the technical and engineering work required to support operator trials and commercial network launches.”

“With many operators accelerating the 5G timelines, it is important for leading members in the ecosystem to work together to advance standards-based solutions that benefit consumers and society. Ericsson has a longstanding history of technical collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies and we look forward to continuing this as the companies lead the way towards 5G,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, chief technical officer at Ericsson.