Multiple companies have been investing in 5G mmWave technology and rollout recently. In February, MediaTek announced a 5G modem that supports mmWave. Support for mmWave is important in the ever changing technology landscape because 5G is a combination of mmWave - which are high-frequency bands that are super-fast, but can be obstructed by the tiniest thing - and sub-6, lower-frequency bands that can penetrate buildings, but aren't as fast. In order to realize the full potential of 5G, the aggregation of the two technologies is essential.
At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021 today, Qualcomm has announced that it is joining hands with over 35 companies to drive the 5G mmWave rollout globally.
Qualcomm is partnering with multiple major companies such as Samsung, HMD Global, TCL, ZTE, Xiaomi, and more as can be seen in the graphic above, for this purpose. Through this collaboration, it will be able to expand 5G mmWave technology to the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Mainland China, and the Asia Pacific region.
Reasons behind the initiative include catering to increased user demand as well as enhancing the mobile ecosystem for economic growth across various industries. Qualcomm's president and chief executive officer-elect Cristiano Amon had the following to say about the collaboration:
The global deployment of 5G mmWave is now inevitable. It is essential to achieve the full potential of 5G and those embracing 5G mmWave will find themselves with a competitive advantage. Support from companies across the ecosystem further demonstrates the global scale and maturity of 5G mmWave. We are proud of our industry leadership in the development, standardization and commercialization of 5G mmWave and honored to work with major mobile industry leaders to accelerate its deployment worldwide.
Qualcomm has highlighted that 5G mmWave is 38 times faster than 4G LTE and 16 times faster than 5G sub-6. There are over 120 devices from more than 50 vendors supporting this capability, mostly powered by Snapdragon hardware. The partnership is also important because more than 180 operators worldwide are are investing in it, out of which 25 are even at deployment stage. Emphasizing on the importance of 5G mmWave for the general public, the firm stated that it will allow consumers to download a 120-minute 4K UHD movie in 27 seconds at peak speeds.
