Ericsson has expanded its indoor mobile connectivity portfolio with three new solutions aimed at delivering 5G coverage, capacity and capabilities across a range of building sizes.
The new solutions are part of the Ericsson Radio Dot System portfolio and will be on full display at Ericsson’s booth in Hall 2 of the Fira Gran Via during MWC Barcelona from February 27 to March 2.
For at least one of the products, Ericsson already has T-Mobile US teed up as a customer. The Ericsson Indoor Fusion Unit is a compact, all-in-one indoor 5G solution that combines radio and baseband functions in one unit, so it should be easier to deploy.
“The indoor 5G market is taking off and T-Mobile is ensuring our business customers are reaping the benefits. New solutions like the Ericsson Indoor Fusion Unit will enable us to quickly scale and deliver 5G to our customers with high-performing networks indoors, enabling incredible new use cases and opportunities,” said Mark McDiarmid, SVP of Radio Network Engineering and Development with T-Mobile US, in a press release.
According to Ericsson, the Indoor Fusion unit is aimed at small and medium-sized buildings, such as coffee shops, chain stores, branch offices, movie theaters and restaurants. It can connect up to four Radio Dots with multi-Gbps per Dot and offers new business opportunities for service providers by adding 5G connectivity for smaller enterprises and branch locations.
Also new to the portfolio is the IRU 8850 indoor radio unit, which is for single or multi-operator deployments in medium to large venues like airports, offices and stadiums. The product can serve up to eight venues from one centralized location, with a 10 kilometer fiber reach. Ericsson says it offers up to 80% reduction in physical equipment space and up to 50% lower total cost of ownership due to network sharing.
The third new product is Ericsson 5G positioning software designed to enable new enterprise use cases and advanced 5G monetization thanks to mobile 3D positioning precision of <1m for any 5G device indoors. It does not require sensors; only a mobile connection, and is fully integrated with an existing network.
Ericsson also announced today at least 10 new radios and software solutions, including a full range of remote radios for 4G and 5G capacity, a new range of wideband Massive MIMO radios, mobile transport offerings. They’re all designed to slash power consumption by up to 94% during low traffic compared to peak consumption.