MTS, the leading communications service provider in Russia and the CIS, deployed Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) technology at a shopping center in Ufa City, Russia.
The service activation took place in the Planeta shopping center in Ufa on May 17 following a series of tests conducted on a live MTS network using a commercial smartphone.
The new LAA network in Ufa aggregates a 20 MHz band in the 1800 MHz licensed LTE spectrum (4x4 MIMO, 256-QAM) and three 20 MHz bands (2x2 MIMO, 256-QAM) in the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. The installation is built on Ericsson’s ERS indoor small cell stations using 1800 (2212) and LAA (2205) broadband radio modules, while Motorola Moto Z2 Force smartphone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform was used as a smartphone.
The Snapdragon 835 integrates X16 LTE modem, the first commercial modem supporting the LAA technology. The configuration yielded downlink speeds of 979 Mbps.
This marks the first commercial LAA rollout in the region. Qualcomm is also listed as a technology partner.
Andrey Ushatsky, Vice President, Technology and IT, MTS, says: "With the launch of the commercial high-speed LAA-network in cooperation with Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, MTS again confirms its status of a technological leader. This is the first LAA network in Russia and Eastern Europe and an important milestone on the way to 5G. LAA will allow us to build gigabit LTE networks quickly and cost-effectively in places with active traffic consumption, where operators do not always have enough available frequencies in the licensed spectrum.”
Yulia Klebanova, Vice President of Business Development, Qualcomm Europe, Inc., says: "We are happy to see Gigabit LTE network services becoming available to the subscribers of MTS. Gigabit LTE can help operators increase network throughput and achieve higher spectral efficiency, providing incredible network speeds to users of mobile devices powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ Gigabit LTE modems with LAA support, including Snapdragon 835 and 845 Mobile Platforms.”
Sebastian Tolstoy, Head of Ericsson Russia, says: “LAA gives service providers access to new spectrum, increasing network capacity and supporting both higher peak rates and higher-than-average speed rates. This commercial LAA rollout marks another important milestone in our strategic cooperation with MTS. Earlier we achieved peak throughput data rates of 25 Gbps at our joint 5G trial. The next step is to prepare for a new demonstration of enhanced 5G capabilities during the football tournament in Russia this year.”
- In 2017, MTS selected Ericsson to upgrade its network with Ericsson Radio System and core network solutions and to prepare for 5G and IoT
