13 June 2016, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today announced that it has completed the verification and performance tests of the 5G high-frequency communication and Massive MIMO technologies in Shanghai and Shenzhen respectively. The tests were organized by the Chinese IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, and fully implemented in both Line-Of-Sight (LOS) and Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) scenarios. The test results met expectations. ZTE therefore became one of IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion’s first suppliers that has completed the high-frequency communication and uplink Massive MIMO tests.

To bring together the strengths of enterprises, universities and research institutes, push the research of China’s fifth-generation mobile communication technologies, and carry out exchange and cooperation with international peers, the Chinese IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group formulated the general 5G technology Research and Development (R&D) experiment plan. From 2016 to 2018, the plan will be implemented in three phases, which are the key 5G technology test phase, the technological 5G solution verification phase, and the overall 5G system verification phase.

The first phase started in September 2015 and will end in September 2016. This phase focuses on key technology verification and performance testing. ZTE, as the core member of the Chinese IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, has actively participated and cooperated with all activities of the group. Since the beginning of the 5G technology R&D experiment, ZTE has fully participated in the discussion and formulation of the test specifications. ZTE also launched the phase-I 5G test four months earlier, based on its own product R&D and test plan.

During the last two weeks of May 2016, ZTE completed the verification and performance tests of the two most important 5G technologies, which are the high-frequency communication technology and the Massive MIMO single-site technology. All test results were exactly the same as expected. The tests were divided into two parts, the high-frequency communication technology part carried out in Shanghai, and the Massive-MIMO technology part carried out in Shenzhen.

For the first part, the single-user throughputs in different noise-signal ratios in an indoor LOS environment were first tested. As a result, the single-user throughputs in different noise-signal ratios met the expected theoretical result, and the Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) functions performed well. The single-user throughputs in different noise-signal ratios in an indoor NLOS environment were tested next. NLOS test scenarios include glass transmission, plasterboard transmission, iron plate transmission, glass reflection, and iron plate reflection, which were very close to the actual environment. As a result, the single-user throughputs in different noise-signal ratios met theoretical expectations, and the AMC functions performed well. What is more, ZTE also plans to carry out outdoor high-frequency communication product tests.

The Massive MIMO test proved that, in Massive MIMO evolved NodeB (eNBs), cell throughputs can be increased exponentially and downlink gains can be up to three times greater than those in conventional macrocell base stations. Meanwhile, considering that the uplink Massive MIMO capacity may be restricted, ZTE also carried out uplink Massive MIMO tests. The results showed that this technology could help exponentially increase cell throughput with the uplink gain reaching four times greater than before. So far, ZTE is the only supplier that has performed uplink Massive MIMO tests. This fully demonstrated ZTE’s enormous strength in this field.

As the global pioneer in 5G, ZTE is dedicated to becoming one of the first commercial 5G equipment provider in 2020. ZTE has now successfully completed the high-frequency communication and Massive MIMO technology verification and performance tests organized by the Chinese IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group. This has further proved ZTE’s strength and position in the 5G field.