Swisscon Implements 3-Carrier LTE FDD and TDD

Swisscom has tested an LTE-Advanced three-carrier aggregation solution combining LTE in both FDD and TDD modes. The demonstration used three carriers in two bands in a radio access network and used commercial-grade chipsets.

The Swiss operator deployed the solution on August 18, 2015 in a Swisscom shop in Zurich and connected to its live, commercial network.  Two LTE TDD carriers, each with 20 MHz bandwidth in the 2.6 GHz frequency band (B41), and one LTE FDD carrier with 15 MHz in the 2.1 GHz band (B1) were used. The live demonstration in Zurich was supported by Ericsson Radio Access Network software 15B and hardware as well as by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X12 LTE modem.

Swisscom plans to roll out this solution to subscribers in Swiss metropolitan areas by summer 2016 to coincide with three-carrier FDD/TDD smartphone availability.

Ericsson said the combination of the three carriers in FDD-LTE and TDD-LTE will significantly enhance the future capacity of the network. The new technology will allow more users to benefit from peak data rates for downloads and uploads when using mobile internet, entertainment or enterprise services. In this specific set-up, a maximum 335 Mbps in the downlink was achieved.

http://www.swisscomm.com
http://www.ericsson.com

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Orange Tests FDD LTE-A in 3.4 - 3.6 GHz with Ericsson

Orange and Ericsson have successfully used the 3.4-3.6 GHz (3.5 GHz) frequencies for testing data speeds, coverage and FDD carrier aggregation.

Orange has conducted a live LTE-Advanced FDD trial using the 3.4-3.6 GHz (3.5 GHz) frequencies.  The tests, which were conducted with Ericsson, were  carried out in October-November 2014 on Orange's network in Bordeaux using Ericsson's pre-commercial equipment.

The companies said the testing established that 3.5 GHz is suitable for the deployment of macro-cells in FDD mode in cities.

The first phase of the trial was performed at the Orange Labs in Paris. In this trial, speeds of 300 Mbps were achieved by using the 3.5 GHz band in aggregation with the 2.6 GHz band, thereby confirming the potential of 3.5 GHz FDD technology to increase mobile broadband capacity. The second phase was carried out on Orange's live mobile network and was based on Ericsson's pre-commercial FDD 3.5 GHz radio base station equipment.

For the trial, new antennas supporting the 3.5 GHz band were installed at the Le Ponant and Meriadeck sites in the city center of Bordeaux. A range of streaming-based services were tested allowing the team to continuously monitor network performance between the base station and the mobile prototype throughout the live trial. The data throughputs acquired during the tests were measured, both before and after carrier aggregation of the two bands. A peak performance of 150 Mbps at a distance of up to 700 meters was achieved in the 3.5 GHz band when used alone, and speeds of 300 Mbps was attained when used in aggregation with the 2.6 GHz band.

"This live FDD trial demonstrated that the 3.5 GHz band can be successfully used in urban and suburban environments in stand-alone mode or in aggregation with another band to provide advanced mobile broadband services using a FDD access scheme for high peak data rate applications to enhance user experience," said Alain Maloberti, Senior Vice President, Orange Labs Networks.

http://www.orange.com
http://www.ericsson.com

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SingTel Hits 260 Mbps with FDD / TDD Carrier Aggregation

SingTel achieved data rates of up to 260 Mbps using LTE Advanced FDD / TDD Carrier Aggregation on commercial hardware and software.

In tests, which took place at the SingTel office in Singapore on October 3, 2014, utilizing a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and Ericsson's LTE software designed to support the company's multi-standard RBS6000 family of base stations for macro and small-cell networks. In the demonstration, Ericsson aggregated 20 MHz of LTE FDD spectrum with 20 MHz of LTE TDD spectrum, supporting peak data rates up to 260 Mbps.

Ericsson said FDD / TDD Carrier Aggregation enables operators to complement their FDD networks with a cost-efficient deployment of TDD. For operators using TDD bands, the TDD uplink coverage can be a constraint. By combining TDD and FDD spectrum through Carrier Aggregation, low band FDD can deliver good uplink coverage while the TDD band can be leveraged for higher downlink capacity. LTE FDD / TDD Carrier Aggregation enables spectrum from both LTE FDD and LTE TDD to be combined to deliver higher peak data speeds and improve app coverage across the network. It increases the effective TDD coverage area by up to 70%, reducing the cost of providing TDD coverage. It also ensures efficient utilization of spectrum, increasing both the combined FDD / TDD coverage area and capacity of the network.

Commercial devices supporting FDD / TDD Carrier Aggregation are expected in 2015.

Tay Yeow Lian, Managing Director for Networks, SingTel says: "We are already using dual-layers of LTE FDD with LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation, and we know the performance of our mobile network is critical to ensuring that our customers have a great experience on their smartphones and tablets. Therefore, we will continue to explore the future option of bundling even TDD spectrum into the LTE carrier aggregation to expand network capacity, allowing our customers to enjoy consistent high data speed download even at high traffic areas."

http://www.ericsson.com/news/1861153


In June 2014, SingTel is launching a 4G mobile broadband service boasting data speeds of up to 300Mbps, double the speeds of currently available 4G services in Singapore.

SingTel's 300 Mbps uses LTE-Advanced technology from Ericsson.

SingTel is using LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) carrier aggregation to combine 20 MHz bandwidth each of its 1800MHz and 2600MHz spectrum bands. 

 The first live site at Singapore Expo is now ready for service.  By the end of the year, more than half of the island will be covered, including areas such as the CBD, Changi Airport and popular shopping malls. Customers can look forward to nationwide coverage by the end of 2015.

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China Telecom Tests 260 Mbps FDD- TDD Carrier Aggregation with Nokia

China Telecom, in partnership with Nokia Networks, has demonstrated the world-first FDD-TDD carrier aggregation including a user device chipset.

In the demo, Nokia’s LTE base station achieved interoperability with a commercial user chipset developed by Marvell. A stable peak download speed of 260 Mbps was achieved in the carrier aggregation demonstration with FDD 20 MHz in 1.8 GHz and TDD 20 MHz in 2.6 GHz spectrum. For the total speed, FDD spectrum contributed to 150 Mbps while TDD spectrum contributed to 110 Mbps.

“It’s highly satisfying to achieve yet another world-first* toward commercialization and globalization of FDD-TDD carrier aggregation,” said Zhang Qi, Vice President of TD-LTE, Nokia Networks. “This achievement with our partner China Telecom will also encourage other operators globally to look at further spectrum combination for FDD-TDD carrier aggregation into advanced 3GPP Rel-12. We are already working with many major operators globally to deliver FDD-TDD convergence for commercial use.”

http://www.nsn.com

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