5G network makes debut in fast and open Vilnius

5G technologies were presented in Vilnius on August 9, 2016

Lithuanian mobile market leader Tele2 together with leading global telecommunications equipment company Nokia brought 5G-ready technology to the Baltics for the first time. 4.3 Gigabit per second mobile internet speed were reached in this pre-standard 5G demonstration, using commercially available Nokia equipment.

This first ever demonstration of a 5G-ready network running on commercial platforms in the Baltics underlines the momentum of bringing 5G to commercial reality. Nokia showcased its AirScale Radio Access, supporting a 4.5 GHz 5G access system using multiple antenna technology and cutting latency to below 1 millisecond.

Peter Wennerström, Head of North Europe Customer Business Team, explained: „The biggest difference between 5G and legacy systems is the extreme diversity of use cases that 5G networks must support. Nokia’s 5G ready network provides three key capabilities of 5G: 1. Gigabits of bandwidth on demand, enabling 4k/8k video as well as augmented and virtual reality; 2. low-latency connectivity that enables remote control of machines as well as autonomous vehicles etc. and 3. the ability to connect billions of sensors and machines to create a super-efficient public infrastructure for energy, water and traffic management.”

In comparison, LTE (4G) speed often is around 15-50 Mbps and LTE Advanced around 50-150 Mbps.

„Mobile internet brought a new level of mobility and is changing the way we work, travel, play games and do everything else. Demand for this connectivity will only increase and there we’ll be a demand for the 5G capabilities for sure. We’ll be ready to present users with the best price and quality”, said Petras Masiulis, CEO of Tele2 in Lithuania.

5G with the next level of download and upload speed, better signal latency and other quality aspects means the opportunity for properly connected smart cities, remote surgery, driverless cars, the Internet of Things and all the other applications and use cases yet to be discovered.

The 5G standard is already in development in 3GPP with contributions from operators, vendors, manufacturers, vertical industries and research institutes, including Tele2 and Nokia. Commercial, standard-based 5G networks are expected around 2020.

Tele2 now disposes of a recently renewed network, which is one of the most modern in the Baltics. The technologically-neutral, 5G pre-ready network allows seamless integration of new data transfer protocols. In this way, Tele2 already brought its clients LTE-Advanced.

Tele2 in cooperation with Nokia were also the first in Lithuania to showcase the LTE (4G) mobile Internet technology in 2010. The TELE2 LTE network is already available for 99 percent of population in Lithuania and covers 95 percent of the territory. LTE-Advanced is available to 55 percent of the population.

Tele2 has also selected Nokia’s 5G-ready Cloud Packet Core solution to transform its core network to meet growing demand for high performance mobile broadband services. Once deployed, the new generation mobile network will not only give Tele2 the flexibility, scale and performance necessary to support LTE consumer services on a larger scale, but also further develop the foundation for 5G. Nokia’s solution will be deployed across the operator’s global network, including Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

More information:
Andrius Baranauskas, TELE2 Corporate Communications Director Baltics
mob. +370 683 66319, e-mail andrius.baranauskas@tele2.com