MediaTek, forever in the shadow of Qualcomm in the smartphone market, is seeking a testing headstart for its 5G chips by using a private network as a testbed and showcase. It has been testing its products on a live network, using spectrum supplied by Far EasTone in the chipmaker’s home country of Taiwan, with Ericsson radio equipment.
The three companies created a private network that connects MediaTek’s three manufacturing sites and its headquarters in Taiwan’s HsinChu Science Park. This will be a showcase for the company’s 5G chipsets, and enable it to test products without having to apply for a licence to use MNOs’ underutilized spectrum – the usual procedure in Taiwan.
The private network will reduce time to market for the chipsets, said MediaTek, because tuning time will be reduced and the chips will be tested in environments that are exactly like those in which they will be used for real. Ericsson said the approach should enable MediaTek to accelerate volume production of the M80.
MediaTek will test its chips outdoors on commercial 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz bands, and the network is currently based on Ericsson’s 5G Radio Dot distributed radio technology, and anchored with LTE. At the MediaTek headquarters, the 28 GHz spectrum is in use for 5G, also anchored with LTE, and the equipment is Ericsson’s AIR 1281 5G Massive MIMO radios.
“Together with Ericsson, we provided MediaTek with a unique private network solution that optimizes the mix of spectrum for complex use cases,” said Chee Ching, president of Far EasTone. “We believe many other enterprises like MediaTek can leverage the capabilities of a private network.”
MediaTek recently unveiled its newest 5G modem, which includes support for millimeter wave bands such as 28 GHz. The M80 5G modem promises peak download speeds of 7.67Gbps and upload speeds of up to 3.76Gbps.
In addition to testing chips that are close to being ready for commercial deployment, the network will be used to test chips in an earlier stage of development. “The private network serves as a platform for innovation,” said JS Pan, general manager of wireless communication system and partnership at the chip firm. “Compared to the traditional lab set-up, it broadens our testing coverage and expedites development progress.”
Chafic Nassif, president of Ericsson Taiwan, believes other companies in Taiwan’s broad electronics ecosystem may be able to take advantage of the private network to gain the sort of competitive advantages MediaTek is targeting. “We see Taiwan being very strategic in developing an innovation platform to build various new devices/software given the abundance of innovation and manufacturing capabilities existing in the market,” he said. “And we will work with mobile operator customers very closely to explore new revenue potentials.”