Samsung argued the benefits of mmWave for 5G networks, as it claimed to have achieved the world’s fastest data rates for the next-generation technology during laboratory tests.

In a statement, the South Korean vendor said it used carrier aggregation to marry 800MHz of mmWave speectrum with multiple user MIMO (MU-MIMO). When run over a pair of test mobile devices and the vendor’s 5G mmWave access unit, it hit peak rates of 4.3Gb/s on each device, for a combined 8.5Gb/s.

Samsung said the trial demonstrates mmWave spectrum, generally ranging from 24GHz to 68GHz, enables operators to provide multi-gigabit speeds which lower bands are unable to match, and so deliver “transformational 5G mobile services” including 8K video streaming, AR and VR.

Hyunho Park, an SVP at Samsung’s Networks Business, said the demonstration proved mmWave’s potential to deliver new kinds of business cases and opportunities for mobile operators.

The company noted Japan, South Korea and the US assigned 5G mmWave spectrum, with more than 15 countries expected to deploy networks in the bands in the coming years.

It unveiled its 5G access unit, which combines the radio, antenna and baseband in a single box at MWC Los Angeles 2019. The unit uses MIMO technology to support 1,024 antenna elements.