Orange, Samsung Electronics and Cisco, on February 7, announced collaboration on a 5G millimeter wave trial set to begin in the second half of 2018, across multiple homes in Romania. The trial marks Orange as the first operator to conduct a multi-vendor 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) customer trial in Europe.

About the Trial - The trial will be set up as a multi-vendor environment for a month-long period, in Romania. The companies will demonstrate how 5G can complement existing fiber deployments to deliver high-quality, high-speed bandwidth services.

The Multi-Vendor Solution

Samsung and Cisco are working together to supply Orange with an end-to-end solution to deliver a gigabit-powered experience to trial customers. Samsung will provide commercial 5G home routers (indoor and outdoor customer-premises equipment (CPE)), 5G Radio Access Units (RAN) comprised of a compact radio base station and virtualized RAN elements, as well as 5G radio frequency planning services. Cisco will supply its Cisco Ultra Gateway Platform, delivering a 5G virtual packet core on top of Cisco NFV Infrastructure. The mobile gateway will be deployed with Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS) for enhanced throughput and flexibility.

Since 2017, Samsung and Cisco have conducted a series of comprehensive network vendor interoperability tests that demonstrated seamless interworking between the virtualized core network, virtualized radio network and CPE.

“Together with Samsung and Cisco, we are joining forces to drive the development of 5G and prepare for its progressive roll-out starting 2020,” said Arnaud Vamparys, Senior Vice President, Radio Networks and Microwaves, Orange. “This trial will demonstrate how FWA, NFV and multi-vendor interoperability create new opportunities and gives us flexibility to build our next-generation network as a multi-service network.”

“Samsung is pleased to partner with Orange and Cicso to address new market needs and explore together enhanced user experiences with our trial efforts,” said GY Seo, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Sales & Marketing Team, Networks Business, Samsung Electronics. “To bring Giga-speed broadband to more users across Europe, 5G FWA is a promising, fast-to-market and cost-effective option, as well as a viable alternative where fiber deployment is impracticable.”

“Industry collaboration for innovation and multi-vendor interoperability is paramount to the success of 5G,” said Yvette Kanouff, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Service Provider Business, Cisco. “5G is pushing the network to new lengths, with the need for greater bandwidth a top priority for all service providers. Our work with Samsung and Orange on this project spotlights how new scaling models and innovative virtualization solutions can deliver on the promise of 5G for an always on, connected society.”