Private 5G network smartphones launching in South Africa

Telecommunications company Comsol Networks is launching smartphones designed to integrate into 5G private networks.

Comsol launched its 5G network in South Africa at a live pilot site on Vilakazi Street in Soweto in September 2018.

5G technology provides much higher speeds and lower latency than 4G/LTE enabling a fibre-like broadband connection.

However, Comsol chief technical officer Mauritz Lewies said that getting handsets and other devices to connect to 5G using private network codes can be challenging.

“Because private 5G isn’t designed to commercial scale yet, most handsets aren’t capable of connecting to the new networks. Some consumer smart devices support it, but not natively,” he said.

Mauritz Lewies, Comsol Networks CTO

The smartphone Comsol is launching has been tested on private 5G networks built with hardware used by major international operators.

The W521 5G Smartphone, configured by electronic product manufacturer Atel, has a MediaTek 5G-C octa-core processor.

In trials last week, Comsol said it achieved almost 500Mbps downlink and 60Mbps uplink speeds, which can support high-quality video calling.

Comsol said this smartphone launch forms part of a broader ecosystem of systems and software, use cases, and devices it is implementing to work on top of its 5G private networks.

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