MWC 2018: Intel and Huawei to showcase 5GNR public interoperability demonstration

Ahead of this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Intel have announced they’ll be taking the occasion to undertaking what they say is the world’s first 5GNR public interoperability demonstration in cooperation with Huawei.

According to senior vice president and general manager of the Network Platforms Group at Intel Sandra Rivera, "At MWC we’re demonstrating the first 5GNR interoperability publicly. This builds on our announcement last month with Deutsche Telecom and Huawei that we conducted the world’s first successful test showcasing 5G interoperability and development testing (IODT) based on the Release 15 NSA 5G NR specification."

Rivera says the company will pursue additional 5GNR trials this year, including collaborations with service providers and partners around the world.

According to Intel, “5G isn’t another 4G upgrade – it will enable new experiences that haven’t been conceived of yet.”

"As we look to 5G commercialization in late 2019, focusing on the challenge to meet the demands of our data-centric world, you will see Intel and our partners working together to accelerate the pace of innovation and lead the market with new products, technologies, applications and experiences."

Qualcomm and Ericsson conducted a similar interoperability demonstration back in December 2017, bringing together AT&T, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, SK Telecom, Sprint, Telstra, T-Mobile US, Verizon, and Vodafone for the a set of over-the-air multiband demonstrations

Like that test, it’s expected that this demonstration will pave the way for further development of 5G standard-compliant infrastructure and devices.

When they do eventually arrive, 5G networks are expected to deliver speeds up to ten gigabytes per second.

For a longer look at everything that happened at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, click here.

Disclosure - Our coverage of MWC 2018 was sponsored by Intel who covered the cost of our flights and accommodation.