Some mobile subscribers in Finland may soon be enjoying LTE-A speeds twice as fast as anything available on currently deployed LTE networks elsewhere in the world. Nokia Solutions and Networks, Broadcom and Finnish carrier Elisa say they have demonstrated LTE Advanced carrier aggregation Category 6 data rates of 300 Mbps on a live commercial network.
Carrier aggregation refers to the combination of different spectrum bands to increase speed and throughput. Category 6 has the potential to double the data rates of Category 4 LTE-A carrier aggregation solutions.
“Category 6 is the number one priority LTE feature for operators as they look to deploy the next speed enhancement to their networks,” said Robert Rango, executive vice president in Broadcom’s mobile and wireless group. The successful test used with Broadcom’s Category 6 LTE-A user equipment with inter-band carrier aggregation and NSN’s Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station. The test aggregated two 20 MHz channels in the 1800 MHz band (LTE Band 3) and the 2600 MHz band (LTE Band 7) to reach speeds of 300 Mbps.
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LTE-A Category 6 carrier aggregation solutions are likely to be an important market for mobile chipmakers. Broadcom faces competition here from HiSilicon, which recently launched a competing chipset supporting 20 MHz + 20 MHz carrier aggregation. Qualcomm is also hard at work on LTE-A carrier aggregation solutions. Many of these solutions are designed for small cells as opposed to handsets.
Test and measurement equipment makers are enabling LTE-A Cat 6 demonstrations with new equipment and procedures. Agilent, Anite and Rohde & Schwarz are all active in this area. Many of the tests involve HetNet components.
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