Nokia announced it successfully completed over-the-air (OTA) trials of 5G NR at C-Band, using the spectrum which the FCC plans to auction for U.S. 5G in December.

The tests, conducted in Dallas, achieved stable peak throughput of greater than 1 Gbps using 100 MHz bandwidth at 3.75 GHz, 4 x 4 MIMO and configured in non-standalone mode.

During drive testing, Nokia monitored network performance and demonstrated successful “handovers” between Nokia’s AirScale 5G base station equipment. The connection and performance were stable throughout the test.

Tommi Uitto, president of Nokia’s mobile networks business, said, “This test, in the C-Band, is significant because it proves that we have a solution ready-to-go following the completion of the spectrum auctions in the U.S. later this year.”

Nokia’s C-Band infrastructure offering is based on its AirScale 5G RF products, which include 64 TRx and 32 TRx massive MIMO, 8T8R radios, 4T4R micro remote radio heads (RRH) for street and venue deployments and indoor pico RRHs for in-building coverage. Nokia said it is shipping each of these systems in high volume to leading carriers around the world.

For U.S. deployment, Nokia will make hardware changes to accommodate U.S. frequency allocations and other RF requirements, which Nokia characterizes as low technical risk.

The FCC will hold a C-Band auction in December. Nokia expects operators winning spectrum will deploy networks in the first half of 2021.

Nokia recently announced it achieved 5G speeds of 4.7 Gbps in OTA tests performed with its AirScale base station equipment, being deployed in U.S. commercial networks.