By Catherine Sbeglia
Verizon added an average of 161 MHz of C Band spectrum nationwide to its portfolio, more than doubling its existing mid-band spectrum.
Using its recently acquired C Band spectrum, Verizon teamed up with Samsung Electronics on an end-to-end fully virtualized 5G data session in a live network environment. The trials took place in Texas, over Verizon’s network, and it used Samsung’s fully virtualized RAN (vRAN) solution built on its own software stack and C Band 64T64R Massive MIMO radio in coordination with Verizon’s virtualized core.
According to the companies, the trials achieved speeds “commensurate with traditional hardware-based equipment.”
“We have been driving the industry to large scale virtualization using the advanced architecture we have built into our network from the core to the far edge. This recent accomplishment paves the way for a more programmable, efficient and scalable 5G network,” said SVP of technology planning at Verizon, Adam Koeppe. “Customers deserve more than mere access to 5G. They deserve 5G built with the highest, gold-standard engineering practices that have positioned Verizon as the most reliable industry leader for years.”
Massive MIMO, an evolution in antenna arrays that uses a high number of transmitters, enables more possible signal paths between a device and a cell tower, while reducing interference through beamforming. Samsung’s C Band 64T64R Massive MIMO radios, used in the trials, support digital/dynamic beamforming, SU-MIMO, MU-MIMO and dual connectivity and carrier aggregation.
Koeppe commented: “Incorporating full, cloud-native virtualization, Massive MIMO and beamforming into our network design and deployment will result in so much more than our customers merely seeing a 5G icon on their devices. This is 5G service optimized for peak performance.”
Verizon won big in the C Band spectrum auction, adding an average of 161 MHz of C Band nationwide for US$52.9 billion, more than doubling its existing mid-band spectrum. The operator stated that it expects to put into service the new 5G C Band spectrum in the initial 46 markets and expand it to 100 million people under the 5G Ultra Wideband service brand, which it currently provides via mmWave spectrum. Throughout 2022 and 2023, coverage is expected to increase to more than 175 million people. Further, when the remaining C Band spectrum is cleared, the operator said that more than 250 million people will have access to its 5G Ultra Wideband service on C-band spectrum.
