Samsung Electronics claimed to have set a new 5G speed record during testing of E-UTRAN New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC), a technology standardised in 3GPP Rel-15.

The company said it achieved a data rate of 5.23Gb/s during a trial at a laboratory in South Korea combining 40MHz of 4G spectrum with 800MHz of mmWave 5G and its Galaxy S20 Plus handset.

Ji-Yun Seol, Samsung VP and head of its networks unit’s Air Technology Group, stated the demonstration highlighted “the power of using a dual 4G and 5G approach, delivered directly to a single user”.

Unlike dynamic spectrum sharing, which allows a single block of spectrum to be shared between 4G and 5G, EN-DC involves the simultaneous receipt of signals from the technologies on user equipment, with the combination boosting network speeds, range and reliability.

Operators including SK Telecom, UScellular and Sprint (prior to its merger with T-Mobile US) previously outlined plans to deploy EN-DC.

Samsung’s announcement is the latest in something of a speed race around 5G.

In late 2020, Telstra, Ericsson and Qualcomm achieved a data rate of 5Gb/s in trials using carrier aggregation, while in November 2020 Elisa and Nokia hit 4Gb/s on two devices for a combined rate of 8Gb/s.