Samsung claimed a key breakthrough in use of 5G spectrum to bolster public Wi-Fi following a trial on a moving underground train which employed mmWave spectrum to provide backhaul.

The vendor stated it achieved peak download data rates of 1.8Gb/s over Wi-Fi, around 25-times faster than the 71Mb/s average currently available on the train network in South Korean capital city Seoul.

A Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra handset was used in the trial, which involved installing the vendor’s 5G Compact Macro units along railways spanning five stations, using 800MHz in the 28GHz band

The demonstration was conducted in collaboration with leading Korean mobile operators and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Kim Seung-il, VP and head of Korea Business at Samsung’s Networks Business, explained the trial proved the potential of mmWave 5G to complement other wireless technologies and boost legacy network performance.