Canada’s Shaw Communications says it successfully completed its first 5G technical trials in Calgary, Alberta, using expertise from Nokia, CableLabs and Rohde & Schwarz and leveraging the 28 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum.
The 5G trials were conducted using precommercial equipment at Shaw’s Barlow Campus Technology Centre and used developmental 28 GHz licenses provided by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Shaw also conducted comparative testing between 28 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum to better understand the interoperability between the two bands that are considered vital to 5G.
“5G is set to completely transform the industry with faster wireless speeds that will help usher in the next industrial revolution and enable future technologies that we can only dream of today,” said Zoran Stakic, COO and chief technology officer at Shaw Communications, in a release. “We are pleased that our first trials have been a resounding success, and through our partnerships with best-in-class industry leaders we will work to better understand 5G’s strengths and capabilities while continuing to invest in our network to offer Canadians a new era of strong and sustainable competition for the next generation of wireless technologies.”
Of course, Nokia is delighted to partner with Shaw on 5G. “We will enable Shaw to offer very high speed with extremely fast response time that will allow robots and machines to communicate between themselves at the speed of light,” said Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, in a statement.
Earlier this year, Shaw joined the board of 5G Americas, but it’s been mostly quiet on the 5G front until now, according to MobileSyrup, which noted that 5G is expected to begin arriving in Canada in 2019.
Shaw said it will continue to conduct technical trials in the coming months to test the 5G ecosystem as part of its larger commitment to improving performance across its LTE-Advanced network.