By Giacomo "Jack" Lee
Publication Date: 2025-10-28 00:00:00
NEC Corporation launched a new radio unit (RU) for 5G Sub-6GHz band base stations, promising deployment flexibility and centralized processing in a virtualized RAN (vRAN) architecture.
Utilizing multi-user massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MU-MIMO) technology, the new unit enables multiple antennas to transmit concurrently with multiple terminals. NEC also touted beamforming technology, which dynamically generates highly focused beams toward user devices in real time.
The Japanese giant also claimed an improvement in average user throughput by around 48% for uplink and 54% for downlink compared to its current model. NEC also expected uplink performance to further improve to approximately 55% with future updates.
When paired with NEC’s vRAN, software-based delay management extends the allowable fronthaul distance between the RU and distributed unit (DU) from 18 miles (30km) to as much as 25 miles (40km), potentially giving operators more options for where they place base stations without significantly affecting throughput. This longer reach can make it possible to dynamically reassign RUs and optical paths as traffic patterns change, helping to optimize both capital and operating costs.
NEC also touted improved energy efficiency with the new unit, claiming to cut power use by about 42% in normal operation, down to 315 Watts (W), and about 30% at peak to 630 W or less.
The 5G Sub-6GHz unit will be showcased at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026 ahead of a product launch in…