Ericsson on Wednesday announced a new small cell 5G radio to provide stronger mobile broadband connections indoors.
The Swedish telecom giant said its 5G Radio Dot will enable mobile connectivity and support industrial applications when WiFi and outdoor 5G base stations — whose signals can be blocked by modern building materials — fall short.
“Enterprises have been asking for first-rate connectivity indoors, as well as higher speeds and capacity to serve advanced use cases that cannot be addressed by traditional indoor systems,” Nishant Batra, Ericsson’s head of product area network infrastructure, said in a statement. “Our 5G portfolio, bolstered by small cells, will enable operators to meet these demands.”
The new system is designed to complement existing Radio Dot products deployed in 4G networks and allow users to easily upgrade to 5G capabilities on the same cable infrastructures, network architectures and radio locations.
The small cell radio will support 5G mid-band spectrum between 3 GHz and 6 GHz at speeds of up to 2 Gbps, and officials added that it can be installed in half the time of rival indoor systems.
The 5G Radio Dot is expected to be available next year following trials in late 2018.
