Nokia, Elisa hit record-breaking 5G uplink speeds of 2.1 Gbps on mmWave spectrum

Nokia claims to have hit a record-breaking 5G uplink speeds of over 2 Gbps on the mmWave spectrum with Qualcomm Technologies and Finnish telco Elisa. The new record was achieved in a live demonstration that took place at the Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland - one of the first stadiums equipped with 5G mmWave.

"5G mmWave stands out as an optimal solution for venues like stadiums, where large capacity and ultra-high data speeds are needed over a short distance for thousands of mobile users at the same time. This successful project is another important milestone in our long-standing and well-established relationship with Elisa and Qualcomm Technologies," said Ari Kynaslahti, Head of Technology and Strategy at Nokia Mobile Networks.

For this trial, Nokia provided its AirScale base station in 26GHz mmWave spectrum over Elisa's commercial 5G network, which was connected to a 5G device powered by a Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System with fourth-generation Qualcomm QTM545 mmWave antenna modules.

Additionally, Nokia deployed its industry-leading Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology to make the best use of the available spectrum assets in different frequency bands.

In a media release, Nokia said that the service, once deployed, will create new opportunities for at-venue data services such as real-time multi-user 8K ultra-high-definition video streaming, and augmented reality (AR) content for smartphones or wearable devices for immersive experiences.

Further, broadcasters will benefit from enhanced video capture to support ultra-high quality live reporting and content delivered to mobile devices and TVs.

Commenting on this achievement, Sami Komulainen, Executive Vice President, Production at Elisa, said, "We previously announced reaching 8 Gbps downlink speeds with Nokia, and Qualcomm Technologies and now we have pushed the possibilities of 5G technology even further with this new trial reaching over 2 Gbps uplink speeds. This will deliver incredible and enhanced services to visitors of the Nokia Arena."