- SoftBank has started testing 5G-Advanced in Tokyo
- Like T-Mobile, SoftBank is starting with L4S video service
- Operators in the United States, Europe and Asia are expected to move to 5G-A this year
Japanese operator SoftBank said recently that it is testing 5G-Advanced (5G-A) features with Ericsson and Qualcomm in Tokyo. Ahead of most global operators, SoftBank is following in the footsteps of T-Mobile in the United States and the three major mobile operators in China down the 5G standalone (5G SA) path and testing out its first 5G-Advanced features.
SoftBank ran the 5G-Advanced field trial with the vendors on its commercial 5G SA network in the capital city. Similar to T-Mobile last year, SoftBank is starting its 5G-Advanced journey with a low latency, low loss and scalable throughput (L4S) feature test.
Ericsson said that “the results showed an approximately 90% reduction in wireless link latency compared to scenarios that did not utilize 5G and 5G-Advanced technologies such as L4S. When L4S is launched commercially by SoftBank, it will mean smoother and less jittery video connections over 5G connections.
Because 5G-Advanced is a software update, lots of other operators (but nowhere near all of them) can relatively easily upgrade to 5G-Advanced once they’ve physically upgraded the core network to 5G SA.
As Ookla lead analyst Mike Dano said, this will lead to 5G-A updates this year. “I would assume that other operators in the U.S. and globally will follow the same path,” he said.
No mad rush to 5G-Advanced
This doesn’t mean that Dano thinks that there will be “a mad rush” to update to 5G-Advanced because operators are focused on profitability rather than just adding new services. Fierce should note that the GSA has said that while 340-plus operators have launched 5G networks, only 120-plus have started investing in 5G SA, which needs to be in place before MNOs can move to 5G-Advanced.
Nonetheless, operators that can move to 5G-Advanced — like T-Mobile in the U.S. — have already started to deliver enterprise applications and services via its nationwide 5G-Advanced network. Fierce expects more 5G-Advanced enterprise services to arrive in 2026.