Ericsson has extended its 20-year strategic partnership with Entel, the largest telecommunications company in Chile. Under the terms of the new contract, Ericsson will prepare Entel's network in the evolution path towards 5G by deploying its latest LTE FDD network technologies and LTE TDD Massive MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output).

Ericsson and SmarTone, the leading mobile network operator in Hong Kong, are trialing FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) Massive MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) technology as part of the operator's network evolution plan towards 5G.

To meet growing customer interest in 5G, Nokia is broadening its focus into multiple areas of early 5G mobility use cases, including enhanced mobile broadband and ultra-reliable, ultra-low latency communications. Nokia will push for accelerated 3GPP industry standardization while building on early customer experiences with its Nokia 5G FIRST end-to-end solution, launched in February at Mobile World Congress.

Singtel announced plans to deploy Massive MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) technology commercially on its LTE-Advanced mobile network, to enhance mobile data speed experience by up to 200% at special events for its customers. A precursor to 5G technology, Massive MIMO is an advanced solution used to boost network capacity in highly dense environments.

At Mobile World Congress Americas, US telecom provider Sprint and Ericsson unveiled the results of the first US 2.5GHz Massive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) field tests conducted in Seattle, Washington and Plano, Texas using Sprint's spectrum and Ericsson's 64T64R (64 transmit, 64 receive) radios.

At the 2017 Global Antenna Technology & Industry Forum recently held in Munich, Huawei partnered with Telefónica Deutschland to launch the world's first 5G-oriented antenna deployment solution. During the evolution to 5G, this solution can resolve the challenge of insufficient antenna installation space for the deployment of both high-band 4T4R over Sub 3 GHz and Massive MIMO.

Vodafone Australia plans to roll out FDD Massive MIMO technology to selected mobile sites during 2018. The company has taken the next steps in the advancement of its mobile network performance by successfully conducting its first field demonstration of Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) using a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) band.

ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile internet, helped Japan's SoftBank Hawks seal a 4-3 victory over its opponent and won the championship at the main venue Yahuoku! Dome during the 2017 Japan Series.