UScellular, Qualcomm, Others Tested 5G MmWave Speeds

The announcement by UScellular, Qualcomm, Ericsson and Inseego Thursday of sustained uplink and downlink speeds over 5G millimeter wave on a commercial network is “a huge milestone in addressing the ‘last mile’ connectivity challenge,” said ABI Research analyst Khin Sandi Lynn. Only 81% of U.S. households are connected to fixed broadband access, she said. Multi-gigabit speeds over mmWave will benefit consumers and businesses, supporting the increased broadband demand since COVID-19, Lynn said: “The solution solves the limited propagation characteristic of mmWave and will accelerate deployments of fixed wireless access services in rural and underserved areas and contribute to achieving broadband for all.” Speeds were reached at 7 kilometers, the farthest U.S. 5G mmWave FWA connection, with sustained average downlinks of about 1 Gbps, sustained average uplink speeds of about 55 Mbps and instantaneous peak downlinks at more than 2 Gbps, said the companies. At 1.75 km with no line of sight, average downlink speeds reached about 730 Mbps, with sustained average uplinks of 38 Mbps on UScellular’s network in Janesville, Wisconsin. Tests were done with Ericsson’s Antenna Integrated Radio 5322 advanced antenna system, with an Inseego Wavemaker 5G outdoor CPE FW2010 powered by Qualcomm.