O2 Germany picks Ericsson for 5G microwave testing

Telefónica Deutschland (O2 Germany) partnered Ericsson to demonstrate 5G wireless backhaul, notching speeds up to 10Gbps over a distance greater than 10km.

Ericsson claimed the trial proved a use case for its microwave backhaul equipment in rural and suburban areas, a “world‑first” demo using traditional bands.

Aysenur Senyer, Transport Networks Director at O2, said the operator was working with Ericsson to develop microwave solutions using carrier aggregation and multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technology. The backhaul will be utilised for 5G traffic over long distances in rural regions where fibre is not a commercially viable option.

“ This type of technology enables us to deliver fibre‑like connectivity via microwave and further accelerate our 5G deployment. ”

Senyer.

Ricardo Queirós, Head of Microwave Systems for Business Area Networks at Ericsson, said the joint development paves the way for “high‑performance 5G coverage on a much broader scale”, utilising wireless backhaul.

Building on R&D foundations

The joint demo leveraged MIMO in combination with carrier aggregation, developing a technology first embarked upon in early‑2012 at a 5G facility in Munich by O2 Germany. Then, the operator bundled two frequencies to increase 5G capacity and data throughput (Telefónicawatch, #154).

Although O2 Germany did not define the spectrum used in its earlier trials, it was widely reported to be 3.6GHz and 1800MHz. In its latest pilot with O2 Germany, Ericsson said it was using MIMO “with high modulation” in the 112MHz channels, combined using carrier aggregation to enable high capacity throughput.

O2 Germany noted that microwave backhaul has a reputation for being a more cost‑ and time‑efficient alternative to fibre deployment. The Ericsson demonstration proves “high availability and high capacity can also be achieved with wireless transport”, the vendor asserted.