In the latest chapter of their 5G story, leading European communications service provider Swisscom and Ericsson have deployed a new feature that allows them to deliver high-capacity indoor 5G to enterprise customers within a 10 km radius, from one centralised location.

The new feature complements Ericsson’s indoor 5G offering – the Ericsson Radio Dot System. It enables Swisscom to use fibre and hybrid fibre cables to deliver power and data to active indoor antennas (Radio Dots) from the Indoor Radio Unit (IRU) and extend cable reach from 300 m to 10 km.

The extended cable reach that comes with fibre-based rollouts supports more flexible deployment options, including remote IRU placement in instances where it may be difficult or expensive to keep equipment locally on premises. This increases solution scalability across different venues and deployment use cases. It allows Swisscom to serve more venues with high-capacity indoor 5G faster with up to 80 percent less equipment needed on premises and less service effort – reducing total cost of ownership.

Mark Düsener, Head of Mobile Networks, Mobile Services & B2B Telco, Swisscom, says: “High-performing indoor 5G is key to full scale societal digitalisation, and Ericsson’s new indoor fibre capabilities boost the capacity and coverage of Swisscom’s leading 5G network. With more flexible in-building deployment options, we can provide more small-to-medium enterprise customers with fast and reliable mobile connectivity, with less equipment.”

Nils Andersson, Head of Indoor, Ericsson, says: “Swisscom has been a true frontrunner in the 5G market, indoors as well as outdoors. With this latest addition to their toolbox, they can continue to expand their 5G footprint while reducing total cost of ownership and increasing operational efficiency. It’s always exciting to help our customers tap into the opportunities that the small-to-medium enterprise market presents.”

The first fibre deployment was made in a Swisscom store near Bern, Switzerland. A Radio Dot was connected to a shared IRU hundreds of meters away in a central office using existing fibre infrastructure.

Typically, CAT6a cables are used for indoor 5G deployments. However, when using fibre connectivity instead, the reach of the cables increases almost 40 times, from 300 m (around three football fields in length) to 10 km (almost 110 football fields).

Swisscom can now deliver seamless, speedy, and secure indoor 5G more easily to small-to-medium enterprise customers such as retail stores, offices, event spaces and restaurants. In turn, this high-performing indoor solution enables them to offer a better mobile experience to customers and employees.

Up to eight small-to-medium venues can be served from one remote unit. This new fibre-extended reach offering is compatible with both single operator and multi-operator (neutral host) indoor solutions.