Carrier Aggregation Gains Some Momentum

September 10, 2015

By Ernest Worthman —

September 9, 2015 — It seems carrier aggregation (CA) technology is coming along. Just recently, Nokia Networks and Nordic mobile operator TeliaSonera conducted a live demonstration, in Finland, of LTE-A three-band carrier aggregation with Category nine devices. The companies claim the demo reached data rates of up to 375 Mbps using a commercial network.

The end-to-end demo, aggregated three LTE FDD carriers, two 20 megahertz, and one 10 megahertz. There are now plans to continue rolling out the advanced mobile service network-wide once compatible mobile devices, in sufficient volumes, become available.

It was a great integration of next-generation products, including Nokia Networks’ Single RAN Advanced platform, and a Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station. The two 20-megahertz carriers were in the 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands, while the 10-megahertz carrier was in the 800 MHz band.

If this holds water, customers will benefit from superfast multimedia applications, and services once the technology is rolled out commercially.