Canada’s largest wireless carrier on Monday showcased numerous 5G applications and announced an agreement with Ericsson to roll out next-generation technology in coming years.
Rogers Communications officials said the company plans to conduct 5G trials in Toronto and Ottawa, with additional cities added over the next year.
The multi-year agreement with Ericsson, Rogers executives added, would bolster and densify its Canadian network using both small cells and macro towers. The continued deployment of Rogers’ Gigabit LTE network, meanwhile, would incorporate 4×4 MIMO, four-carrier aggregation and 256 QAM technologies.
Rogers and other top Canadian carriers have generally remained quiet about specific plans to deploy commercial 5G, and Monday’s statement did not mention a target date to introduce 5G service.
“We’re setting the table to lead on 5G with the right infrastructure, spectrum, partners and investments, so we’re ready when the ecosystem is ready,” CTO Jorge Fernandes said in a statement.
The carrier, however, used its namesake baseball stadium in Toronto as a 5G testbed, and on Monday conducted live demonstrations using virtual reality to control robots, shop retail shelves and toss a baseball back and forth.
“Rogers is taking a significant leap forward today and we are very excited about the opportunity to jointly develop innovative services and new customer experiences,” added Niklas Heuveldop, Ericsson’s North American head of market.
