Ericsson announced that RCS&RDS (DIGI) has launched Romania’s first 5G commercial service in the busiest parts of Bucharest using Ericsson’s technology.

The service, which is built on top of DIGI’s 4G network, is using Ericsson’s 3GPP standards-based 5G New Radio (NR) hardware and software. With this, customers can connect to both 4G and 5G simultaneously to get the best possible experience even in the most crowded areas, depending on the compatibility of the terminal with 5G technology.

Romania plans to start spectrum auction for additional spectrum needed for 5G wireless networks in the fourth quarter of 2019. DIGI can already start offering initial 5G services through its already available commercial spectrum within the 3.6 – 3.8 GHz band.

The company also announced that starting on June 27th, customers can make pre-orders on digiromania.ro to purchase terminals compatible with 5G, VoLTE and VoWiFi technology.

This first phase of DIGI’s 5G rollout is a Non-standalone (NSA) deployment focused on using the combined power of 4G and 5G. In the coming weeks, DIGI and Ericsson will activate more 5G radios and base stations in the capital of Bucharest and the city of Cluj-Napoca.

Valentin Popoviciu, vice president DIGI| RCS & RDS, says, “In 2018, Digi | RCS & RDS took the first step towards 5G, testing the functionality of this technology on a prototype platform. Today, we are experimenting the capabilities of Digi Mobil 5G Smart network, with the commissioning of the first station in our network, in one of the busiest areas of the capital.”