Sprint Extends 2.5 GHz Spectrum with High Performance User Equipment

Sprint announced plans to leverage High Performance User Equipment (HPUE) to optimize its 2.5 GHz network coverage.

Sprint said HPUE technology, which was certified by 3GPP earlier this month, is capable of extending its 2.5 GHz coverage by up to 30 percent to nearly match its mid-band 1.9 GHz spectrum performance, including indoors where an estimated 60 to 70 percent of wireless traffic is generated. HPUE is a new power class – Power Class 2 – for end-user devices such as smartphones, and is designed to improve the performance of TDD-LTE Band 41 networks around the world. Sprint co-led the development of HPUE in conjunction with the Global TDD LTE Initiative (GTI) and companies such as China Mobile, SoftBank, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., Samsung, ZTE, Broadcom, MediaTek, Skyworks Solutions, Alcatel, Motorola, LG and Qorvo.

“HPUE is an incredible innovation that will dramatically improve the performance of our high-band spectrum and deliver an even better experience for the millions of customers on the Sprint network whether they’re streaming videos, playing games or using apps, both indoors and out,” said Dr. John Saw, Sprint CTO. “With HPUE, our customers using 2.5 GHz-capable phones can have nearly the same reach as our 1.9 GHz spectrum. This gives them all the coverage advantages of mid-band spectrum while maintaining the tremendous speed and capacity advantages of high-band spectrum.”

“The joint test between China Mobile and Sprint proved the benefits of HPUE technology, and China Mobile will continuously promote the availability and deployment of HPUE,” said Madam Yuhong Huang, Secretary General of GTI and Deputy General Manager of China Mobile Research Institute.

Sprint also confirmed that its network is ready for the initial roll-out of HPUE, including in its 250 LTE Plus markets. Samsung, one of Sprint’s most important ecosystem partners, is expected to support HPUE in devices slated for commercial launch in 2017.

Furthermore, Sprint will continue its deployment of three-channel carrier aggregation on 2.5 GHz sites. The company also anticipates leveraging a multitude of advanced technologies including multiple carrier aggregation, 256 QAM, 4x4 MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) and Massive MIMO to further enhance the capacity and coverage of its 2.5 GHz TDD-LTE spectrum.

http://newsroom.sprint.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=12399