Chipset company Qualcomm Technologies has revealed the name of telecom operators who will be using its Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem in live, over-the-air mobile 5G NR trials.

This week, Broadcom, which has made a $130 billion takeover bid to acquire Qualcomm, said that Qualcomm’s 5G preparations are not going to deliver result immediately due to lack of use cases.

Multiple wireless network operators in both the sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum bands will use Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem for the trials, which will be based on the 3GPP Release 15 5G NR standard.

The first commercial launches of 5G smartphones and networks featuring Snapdragon X50 5G NR modems are expected to be available in 2019.

AT&T
British Telecom
China Telecom
China Mobile
China Unicom
Deutsche Telekom
KDDI
KT Corporation
LG Uplus
NTT DOCOMO
Orange
Singtel
SK Telecom
Sprint
Telstra
TIM
Verizon
Vodafone Group

The list does not include Indian telecom operators such as BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone and Reliance Jio.

The mobile 5G NR trials will utilize Qualcomm’s 5G mobile test platform and smartphone reference design, which incorporate the Snapdragon X50 chipset and optimize 5G technology within the power and form factor constraints of smartphones while maintaining interoperability and co-existence with 4G LTE.

Demonstrations at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona will showcase the Snapdragon X50 5G modem achieving download speeds of several gigabits per second and highlight new use cases and enhanced user experiences.

Qualcomm will demonstrate 5G NR interoperability, based on the 5G NR standard, with multiple infrastructure vendors utilizing its prototype systems.

“2018 will be a big year for Qualcomm Technologies and the mobile industry overall as we work to execute on the agreed upon 5G NR specification,” said Cristiano Amon, president, Qualcomm Incorporated.

Operator trials will start in 2018 and will utilize spectrum in the sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) bands, which is critical for achieving ubiquitous coverage and enhanced network capacity.

The use of Snapdragon X50 5G modem during mobile 5G NR trials is expected to prepare operators for the commercial network rollout of 5G, equip OEMs to deliver 5G smartphones and allow for testing and development across a range of use cases and deployment scenarios.

AT&T

“Learnings from these standard-compliant trials will help drive forward our plans to start launching commercial mobile 5G services later this year,” said Igal Elbaz, senior vice president, wireless network architecture and design, AT&T.

British Telecom

Howard Watson, chief technology and information officer, BT Group said, “We will be working with Qualcomm to trial and validate this first generation of 5G mobile as we move into an exciting new phase of technology development for 5G.”

China Telecom

“We have been actively managing our 5G market rollout, launching 5G pilot programs in six cities in 2017. China Telecom will cooperate with verticals and innovative enterprises to conduct research and trials of 5G technology and industry applications.”
China Mobile

“China Mobile will launch a mobile 5G large-scale trial in the second half of 2018 to achieve the end-to-end product capability for commercial network deployments, and to demonstrate a number of 5G cross-industry services in the year of 2019 to build comprehensive vertical business solutions.”
China Unicom

“In the upcoming mobile 5G NR trials, we look forward to working closely with Qualcomm Technologies to conduct trials based on the 3GPP Release 15 5G NR standard with the Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem chipset, laying a solid foundation for China Unicom’s 5G commercialization.”

Deutsche Telekom

Arash Ashouriha, senior vice president technology innovation, Deutsche Telekom said, “We look forward now to conducting 5G New Radio standard-compliant field trials with Qualcomm Technologies from 2018 that will pave the way to early 5G commercialization, and ensure that we bring the full benefits of 5G services to our customers.”

KDDI

Yoshiaki Uchida, senior managing executive officer, technology sector, member of the board, KDDI Corporation said, “We are happy to work on mobile 5G NR trials in cooperation with Qualcomm Technologies using their Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem. We will continue our joint efforts with Qualcomm Technologies to explore the potential of 5G NR technologies through field trials.”

KT Corporation

Seo Chang-Seok, executive vice president and head of network strategy unit said, “Qualcomm and KT continue to work together in driving innovation and success stories in the mobile communications business. KT believes that 5G technologies achieved by Qualcomm Technologies will be an essential part of the 5G era. KT expects the Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem chipset to be instrumental to the commercial launch of 5G NR networks and mobile devices.”

LG Uplus

Choi Joosik, executive vice president and head of 5G strategy planning said, “Our goal with Qualcomm Technologies for the over-the-air mobile 5G NR trials is to prepare for the successful deployment and commercialization of 5G in 2019.”

NTT DOCOMO

Hiroshi Nakamura, executive vice president and chief technology officer, NTT DOCOMO said: “NTT DOCOMO remains at the forefront of delivering enhanced mobile broadband for consumers in Japan and we are committed to launching 5G services by 2020.”

Orange

“Orange supports key industry collaboration towards 3GPP standard-compliant trials, and we are committed to deploying 5G as we believe that the multi-service connectivity it will provide in the future has vast potential to cover a large variety of use cases and applications,” says Arnaud Vamparys, senior vice president, radio networks, Orange.

Singtel

Mark Chong, group chief technology officer, Singtel, said, “Singtel Group will trial 5G NR in 2018, which marks a significant milestone in our journey to 5G. We will work with chipset manufacturers like Qualcomm Technologies to test 5G enhanced mobile broadband capability to deliver superior video streaming and other high bandwidth applications.”

SK Telecom

Park Jin-hyo, executive vice president and head of ICT R&D Center, said: “With our years of collaboration, we look forward to continuing our close relationship to realize successful 5G NR trials in 2018, 5G commercialization and expansion of 5G ecosystem in 2019.”

Sprint

John Saw, chief technology officer, Sprint, said: “We’re making great progress working with Qualcomm Technologies, device manufacturers, and our RAN suppliers to launch the first truly mobile 5G network in the United States by the first half of 2019.”

Telstra

Channa Seneviratne, executive director network and infrastructure engineering, Telstra
“At Telstra, we believe 5G has the potential to not just deliver more capacity and faster mobile speeds, but unleash a host of new opportunities – everything from smart cities, to driverless cars, to augmented reality. We are investing in our network and a series of 5G trials in 2018 to ensure Australia remains at the forefront of 5G mobile technology.”

TIM

Giovanni Ferigo, chief technology officer, TIM, said: “We are actively engaging vertical players in order to test a diversified scenario of use cases which will give us the opportunity to test in the field the technical features of 5G as well as starting to develop the 5G market.”

Vodafone Group

“We are pleased to be working with Qualcomm Technologies using mobile devices powered by the Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem family that align with global 5G NR standards, enabling validation of the performance of 5G Networks as we prepare for commercial readiness,” said Luke Ibbetson, head of Vodafone Group R&D.

Verizon

Ed Chan, senior vice president and chief technology architect, corporate network and technology, Verizon, said: “We’re building the foundation of tomorrow’s fixed and mobile 5G NR wireless networks for our loyal customers.”