Nokia said it will introduce its 4.9G technologies by the end of 2017 that will allow operators to enhance their network performance and manage the higher infrastructure demands on the path to 5G.
A 4.9G MIMO Adaptive Antenna will increase cell capacity by up to five times, while a new 4.5G Pro AirScale Micro Remote Radio Head (RRH) will allow operators to take advantage of unlicensed spectrum to enable Gigabit speeds. It will provide significant increases in capacity and several Gigabits of speed-per-second on the path to 5G.
Nokia said in a statement,
Nokia 4.9G will provide significant increases in capacity and several Gigabits of speed-per-second on the path to 5G. The introduction of the AirScale massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna is a milestone in the delivery of 4.9G, driving capacity increases for megacity deployments.
The company is working with the US service provider Sprint and will demonstrate the technology using 3D Beamforming software to deliver throughout gains of up to eight-fold up link and five-fold down link at Mobile World Congress 2017. The demonstration will leverage commercially-available devices operating on TD-LTE band 41.
Frank Weyerich, head of Mobile Networks Products at Nokia, said
Nokia introduced 4.5G Pro and 4.9G last year to allow operators to implement network capacity increases where and when it made sense for them. Now we are delivering features that will maximize their resources, speed deployment times and cut power and costs especially in the most densely populated locations. We are making 4.5G Pro a commercial reality now and working with customers to innovate with solutions to their network densification and evolution challenges in 4.9G and beyond.