Nokia and du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), say they have wrapped up a trial of 5G-Advanced RedCap technology over du’s commercial network in Dubai.
The companies trialed MediaTek’s T300 series RedCap test gear in du’s 5G Standalone (SA) RAN built with Nokia’s AirScale radio products.
RedCap (Reduced Capability) is an enhancement of 3GPP Release 17 that enables less complex, low-power devices to use 5G NR networks. In essence, it’s the 5G equivalent of NB-IoT, which enables IoT use cases for LTE networks. RedCap makes it feasible for devices such as wearables and industrial sensors to connect via 5G, which gives operators another potential avenue for monetizing 5G services.
Saleem Alblooshi, CTO at du, said the trial demonstrates its network’s ability to support 5G use cases like IoT, wearables, and Industry 4.0. As RedCap-compliant devices start to emerge some time next year, du expects to be able to diversify its use case portfolio to include 5G home wireless, wearables, video surveillance, and wireless industrial sensors.
“These remarkable technological advancements are pivotal in propelling Industry 4.0 revolution,” he said.
“It’s essential to bring new capabilities of 5G to the UAE, and this trial is an important step in that direction,” said Dr. Ho-Chi Hwang, MediaTek’s GM of Wireless Communication System and Partnerships.
The trial – billed as a first for the UAE – leveraged existing mid-band spectrum. Nokis said RedCap will be extended over low-band frequencies, which would enable operators to provide 5G IoT connectivity over much wider areas.
Nokia also noted that the 600-MHz band is one of the bands being discussed at the World Radio Conference (WRC-23) currently underway in Dubai.
