A partnership between Qualcomm Technologies and Swisscom, together with cutting-edge device manufactures including OPPO, LG Electronics, Askey and WNC today announced the arrival of commercial 5G services in Europe with the launch of Swisscom’s 5G network. The launch marks the beginning of a fast-paced and broad roll out of 5G networks and Android smartphones in the region expected throughout 2019.
All device manufacturers supporting Swisscom in this announcement use Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G solutions. Premium 5G phones from OPPO and LG and devices from Askey and WNC feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 with X50 5G modem and antenna modules with integrated RF transceiver, RF front-end and antenna elements, the industry’s first commercial 5G mobile platform, and are designed to unlock transformative new experiences including near-instant access to cloud services, shopping with AR, multiplayer cloud-based gaming, real-time video collaboration and more.
Qualcomm’s 5G journey spans many years, from foundational research and ground breaking 5G inventions, to leadership in the design of the 3GPP 5G standard, to the early 5G New Radio (NR) prototypes and trials with two generations of 5G modems announced along with a comprehensive modem-to-antenna and RF Front-end (RFFE) solution, all of which paved the way for the commercial launches of 5G NR standard-compliant infrastructure, smartphones and other mobile devices happening now in 2019.
Building on its mobile technology leadership, Qualcomm continues to push the boundaries of 5G, including key contributions to industry standards and working across a roadmap of new technologies that can expand the 5G ecosystem to new industries.
“Qualcomm Technologies is proud to support Swisscom on the launch of the first commercial 5G network in Europe,” said Enrico Salvatori, Senior Vice President and President, Qualcomm Europe/MEA, QUALCOMM Europe. “This milestone is testament to the strong collaboration that took place across the ecosystem to accelerate 5G commercialization by one year, allowing for the arrival new and exciting user experiences – and Qualcomm Technologies is at the heart of all of this. 5G is now here in Europe, ready to fundamentally enrich how we live our lives.”
Christoph Aeschlimann, Chief Technology Officer at Swisscom and member of the executive board, added: “Swisscom is committed to maintaining our technology lead and to this end have been working with Qualcomm Technologies and other infra-structure partners for the past few years. The future of Switzerland as an innovation hub hinges on the network and we are delighted to bring this to consumers in 2019.”
Henry Tang, Director of the OPPO Standard Research Center, said: “We have worked with Qualcomm Technologies for many years and at Mobile World Congress we initiated our ‘OPPO 5G Landing Project’. We are delighted to be able to finally bring this device to a live 5G network with Swisscom today.”
“LG’s history of working with Qualcomm Technologies to deliver the best user experience to customers is unmatched,” said In-Kyung Kim, Ph.D, Senior Vice President of 5G and network technology, mobile R&D center at LG Electronics. “Our global collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies in launching LTE is proof of LG’s commitment to delivering insightful innovation in the mobile space. Our ceaseless innovation and commitment to 5G early on led to the development of our first 5G smartphone, the LG V50ThinQ 5G, which we are excited to offer through Swisscom.”
