Sri Lankan telecommunications service provider Dialog Axiata has laid claim to being the first company in South Asia to successfully trial standalone 5G (5G SA) networks.
The island's largest mobile network operator said that with this successful 5G SA trial, Sri Lanka's connectivity provider further advanced the nation's 5G journey and would enable more advanced use cases that required 5G SA support.
The operator highlighted in a statement how 5G SA can bring more advanced features in the network standards such as autonomous driving and real-time immersive services, claiming it will bring forth new opportunities for enterprises in the country and enable the fourth industrial revolution.
In Sri Lanka, 5G is known for bringing upgraded mobile broadband to the consumer market, but it also enables technologies such as ultra-reliable low latency Services and massive machine type communication, both enable use cases such as autonomous driving and enhanced real-time immersive services such as AR/VR and massive IoT.
Supun Weerasinghe, Group Chief Executive of Dialog Axiata said: “The successful trial of the 5G Standalone network marks a key milestone in the advancement of connectivity infrastructure, not just in the country, but also in the South Asian region. We at Dialog are proud to propel our nation amongst our global peers to achieve yet another region-first in technology, where the evolution of our 5G architecture will enable us to provide even better services to our customers”.
The range of 5G milestones by the company includes the deployment of South Asia’s first 5G trial network in 2020, the demonstration of a fully standards-based 5G mobile service for the first time in South Asia, the first 5G showcase in South Asia, the demonstration of South Asia’s fastest 5G mobile speeds in 2019, and the first standards-based 5G fixed-wireless pilot transmission in December 2018.
