NSW Telecommunications Authority contracts with NEC to build 5G lab

The NSW Telco Authority has contracted with NEC to build a cloud-powered 5G lab to evaluate the application of the technology for public safety mobile broadband (PSMB) applications.

The lab runs on AWS and “provides an immersive 5G testbed experience in the cloud, enabling simple and fast application building, rapid deployment, scalability, resilience and lifecycle automation,” said NEC. said in a statement.

This environment will enable both the NSW Communications Department and NSW Public Safety Department to investigate new technologies and prove their interoperability.

The lab will include NEC’s centralized and distributed virtualized 5G open RAN units, open radio units and customer premises equipment to demonstrate applications to the NSW Telecommunications Authority.

It is an end-to-end turnkey solution that covers design, supply, installation and commissioning.

Naohisa Matsuda, General Manager of NEC’s 5G Strategy and Business, said the company will “help build practical and effective PSMB use cases and develop a cloud-native 5G core combined with an open radio access network (RAN). It proves the value of the network.”

The first deliverable will allow the agency to “test the latest cloud-native core technologies alongside open RAN, explore cloud deployment options (in line with the NSW government’s ‘public cloud first’ policy), and build PSMB use cases.” , will be able to provide Emergency Services Organizations (ESOs). ) mobile broadband capacity makes communication easier and improves situational awareness,” Matsuda said.

Further phases of the build are planned.

NEC has a long track record as a supplier to authorities. It provides wireless backhaul services to public safety networks under the ITS2573 NSW Procurement Panel.

In April, the company one of several It was named to help authorities evaluate different models of mobile tower sharing.