ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise, and consumer technology solutions for the mobile Internet, today announced that the Guangdong branch of China Unicom and ZTE have made the world’s first 5G call by means of ZTE’s 5G prototype smartphone in the Shenzhen 5G field trial. The test also completed the verification of diverse services, such as WeChat group voice calls, online video, and web browsing.

This achievement has made Shenzhen Field of China Unicom the world’s first commercial test field to make the first call in NSA mode, and it is in compliance with the 3GPP Rel-15. Known as “the City of Innovation”, Shenzhen is one of the first 5G pilot cities of China Unicom. Shenzhen is fully verifying the 5G network equipment’s networking capabilities, special services, roaming and interconnection, and the inheritance of existing services in phases, thereby laying a solid foundation for the 5G whole network commercial construction.

The test adopts ZTE’s 5G end-to-end solution, including a radio access network, core network, transport network, and intelligent device, realizing the connection with ZTE’s 5G prototype smartphone in the field environment.

Meanwhile, the test has verified several 5G key technologies, such as Massive MIMO, 5G NR, NSA dual connectivity, FlexE transport technology, and 5G Common Core.

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As one of the world’s leading telecommunications equipment providers, ZTE has been leading in 5G technology, 5G equipment, and 5G products. The first call of ZTE’s 5G prototype smartphone in the NSA mode conducted in the China Unicom Shenzhen field was successful. ZTE’s 5G solution has passed the end-to-end test in the three months since the release of the 3GPP Rel-15. It showcases ZTE’s strong competency in 5G R&D and commercialization, demonstrating ZTE’s role as a reliable partner to global 5G operators and a key player in the 5G industry.