ZTE completes 5G NR field test with China Unicom

ZTE and China Unicom has announced the operator’s successful first 5G New Radio field test, claiming data rates of up to 2 Gbps for single user-equipment.

The field test, which took place in Shenzhen, used the 3.5GHz frequency band with a 100MHz bandwidth, combing a number of new-age technologies including Massive MIMO and low-density parity check. The test aimed to demonstrate 5G technical performance and product commercial capabilities in a real-world network environment.

Elsewhere in ZTE, the team has announced the launch of its NB-IoT Intelligent Energy Management System, to capture the hearts and minds of the eco-friendly.

The platform itself uses various IoT technologies for energy-saving and emission reduction management, which ZTE claims can save up to 50,000 kilowatts of electricity every month through the centralized automatic shutdown of the terminals outside of office hours. It’s another IoT use case which we are likely to hear a lot about over the next couple of months, but with the advancements made in NB-IoT, the possibility of remote access and management is becoming more feasible in more difficult environments such as base stations.

Updates on the road to 5G are not uncommon, but many seem to forget about the lesser Chinese player. It isn’t exactly difficult to do, considering the long shadow which Huawei casts, but it should also be worth remembering that ZTE isn’t that far behind the likes of Ericsson and Nokia in the race to catch up with the industry leader.