Road to 5G: Etisalat, Ericsson trial Massive MIMO in the UAE

Etisalat and Ericsson have successfully conducted a live on-air trial of Ericsson Radio System and Massive MIMO technology in the United Arab Emirates, paving the way towards 5G deployment.

As one of Ericsson’s key New Radio (NR) technologies, Massive MIMO has enabled the launch of Antenna Integrated Radio (AIR) 6468 on the Etisalat UAE network. Etisalat has been able to test the benefits of Massive MIMO in real-life scenarios with the advanced NR Radio and Baseband (which are 5G ready) and the latest 5G Plug-Ins software.

The trial was conducted in the dense and high-traffic urban environment of Dubai Marina. This is an ideal environment for testing and deploying Massive MIMO. This trial helps in evaluating the benefits of the technology and determines optimal deployment scenarios.

Saeed Al Zarouni, Senior Vice President, Mobile Network, Etisalat, says: ”As a global pioneer of telecommunication services, Etisalat UAE is pleased to partner again with Ericsson, on a live on-air trial of the new Ericsson Radio System with Massive MIMO technology capabilities, these newly developed cutting-edge 5G plug-ins will further enhance the experience on our radio network platform for our customers in the near future. Our latest partnership with Ericsson strengthens our commitment to our society by offering early deployment of 5G services, these plug-ins will pave the way for key UAE Smart Government Strategy pillars, such as Artificial Intelligence.”

Nishant Batra, Head of Product Area Networks, Ericsson, says: “At Ericsson, we are dedicated to being a world leader in 5G, enabling our clients to use the enhanced benefits of the new technology. Network speeds will be faster than ever, which will significantly improve the end-user experience. We have worked with Etisalat in the past – on 2G, 3G, and 4G, so we are excited to take our partnership to the next level with the early implementation of 5G.”