Nokia, Elisa and Qualcomm Technologies Inc all collaborated on the record and have said the service is expected to be implemented in 2021.
The capability will support a range of new low-latency, high-bandwidth services, such as high-speed video downloads, mission-critical or VR and AR applications. For example, downloading 4K video content or triple-A games in a matter of seconds, or enabling enhanced capacity fixed wireless access connectivity as a fibre broadband alternative.
Sami Komulainen, executive vice president, production at Elisa, said: “This is an important development and another step in our efforts to bring the fastest speeds and best 5G experiences to our customers.
“Elisa was the first in Finland and amongst first in the world to deploy 5G. Reaching 8Gbps is a natural step in our 5G development and we want to explore the possibilities 5G offers and push the technology further to benefit our customers,” Komulainen added.
The milestone was achieved by utilising Nokia’s 5G mmWave technology and Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G smartphone form factor test devices over Elisa’s commercial 5G network.
The base station utilised two Nokia AirScale radios, each using 800 MHz of commercial millimetre wave 5G spectrum at 26 GHz. These provided connectivity to two 5G smartphone form factor test devices powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon™ X55 5G Modem-RF System featuring second-generation Qualcomm QTM525 mmWave antenna modules, with each device reaching 4Gbps peak speeds from the base station.
The record was set at Elisa’s flagship store in Helsinki, Finland.
5G capabilities have increased rapidly of late. In September, TIM reported it had achieved the first connection in Europe to exceed a downlink speed of 4Gbps on a 5G live network. The record was achieved over 26GHz millimetre-wave (mmWave) frequencies acquired through Italy's Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE’s) 5G auction.
Another industry first saw T-Mobile complete a 5G standalone (SA) New Radio Carrier Aggregation (NR CA) data call on a commercial device, LG VELVET 5G, in October. With NR CA T-Mobile is able to combine its different 5G spectrum bands – starting with 2.5 GHz mid-band and 600MHz low-band – increasing speeds and expanding the footprint of its mid-band 5G network as well as its nationwide SA 5G.
