NEC entered into an agreement with Japanese operator NTT Docomo to provide control units for NTT Docomo's 5G base station equipment, according Telecompaper. NEC will carry out development that enables existing communication equipment, such as high-density base station equipment, to be fully compatible with 5G. These developments will help prepare the Japanese operator for the launch of 5G services in 2020.
At present, high-density base station equipment that NEC began providing in February 2015 is already compatible with the advanced Centralized Radio Access Network (C-RAN) architecture advocated by Docomo, and is now being used as a base station control unit. Moreover, following a software upgrade, an advance in communications from LTE to LTE-Advanced was achieved.
Under this new agreement, NEC will achieve 5G compatibility through software upgrades and a minimal replacement of hardware to maximise the use of existing high-density base station equipment. Even after making equipment compatible with 5G, existing LTE/LTE-Advanced services will continue to be available. With the coexistence of the LTE/LTE-A and 5G services, NEC will contribute to the realisation of a network that meets a variety of service demands.
