LTE subscriber base now accounts for 44% of all mobile subscriptions worldwide and is expected to keep growing until 2022. Based on the latest GSA data, there were 3.74B LTE connections globally at the end of September 2018 in comparison to 2.77B  connections a year earlier. LTE subscriptions are expected to reach 5.96B by 2022 end. 

E-UTRAN supports MR-DC via E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (EN-DC), also called MR-DC with EPC, in which a UE is connected to one eNB that acts as a MN and one en-gNB that acts as a SN. The eNB is connected to the EPC via the S1 interface and to the en-gNB via the X2 interface. The en-gNB might also be connected to the EPC via the S1-U interface and other en-gNBs via the X2-U interface.

Apple has unveiled fourth generation iPad and new iPad mini with support of additional LTE bands for markets across the world. The new iPad mini features the same number of pixels as the original iPad and iPad 2 to allow apps to work that are designed specifically for iPad.

MATLAB has introduced its 5G Toolbox, which provides standards compliant waveforms and reference examples for modeling, simulation, and verification of the physical layer of 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) communications systems. 5G Toolbox can be used  to design algorithms and predict end-to-end link performance of systems that conform to the 5G Release 15 standard.

Yesterday I read an interesting article on Massive MIMO. The next generation network beyond 4G could be built with big arrays of tiny antennas, according to Bell Labs scientist Tom Marzetta.