Verizon has just inked a new deal with Ericsson in the hopes of expanding their 5G network. The new deal comes as a multi-year agreement costing $8.3 billion.
“With this new agreement, we will be able to continue driving innovation and widespread adoption of 5G. We are pleased to continue this work through our long-standing relationship with Ericsson.” - Kyle Malady, Verizon Chief Technology Officer.
According to the release, the deal covers new mid-band coverage in the C band, which will create a better balance of data speeds and coverage compared to most frequency bands that are currently being used for 5G.
The deal will also see the continuous build-out of existing low-band and mmWave networks, along with Massive MIMO technology that uses 32-64 antennas to improve network capacity.
In its announcement, Verizon told its investors that it plans to spend $10 billion over the next three years in order to deploy 5G in the C band. Apart from this amount, Verizon already spent $45 billion for its C band licenses.
“This is a significant strategic partnership for both companies and what we’re most excited about is bringing the benefits of 5G to U.S. consumers, enterprises, and the public sector. We’re looking forward to working with Verizon to leverage solutions like Cloud RAN and our Street Macro, adding depth and versatility to 5G network rollouts across the U.S.” - Niklas Heuveldop, Ericsson North America President and Head.
