The demonstration, carried out on 3 August at Ericsson’s labs, showed it was possible to achieve connection throughput of over 12 Gbps for 5G downloads with latency of less than two milliseconds, as well as the first voice call connected between 4G and 5G networks.
In February, the US operator and Ericsson announced plans to deploy a 5G pre-standards 28GHz test system for lab and field trials in T-Mobile’s home market.
T-Mobile also recently concluded preliminary tests using 28GHz spectrum with Ericsson's rival Nokia.
Neville Ray, Chief Technology Officer of T-Mobile, says: "We're building towards 5G every single day with advanced technologies in our network, so we can put 5G to work for our customers just like we do with every new innovation. With Ericsson, we've now demonstrated speeds over 12 Gbps."
In its latest Mobility Report, Ericsson predicted there will be 150 million 5G subscriptions in use globally by the end of 2021. Mobile operators around the world are working to develop 5G pre-standard lab and field trials, and Ericsson has already announced 25 agreements to test 5G with partners.
Arun Bansal, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Network Products, Ericsson, says: "Ericsson is committed to supporting T-Mobile in their efforts to move 5G from the current field trials to full commercial availability. Smooth handover between 5G and advanced LTE networks will be critical to delivering a robust user experience especially with new media applications."
It comes just days after Samsung and SK Telecom announced they had successfully trialed handover technology between 5G base stations in an outdoor environment.
