Vodafone Turkey and Turkcell have held separate spectrum sharing demonstrations with Huawei, as they look to boost network efficiency.
The “world’s first” live commercial trial of GSM/LTE (GL) spectrum sharing technology in the 900MHz band was conducted by Vodafone Turkey and Huawei in Diyarbakir, in the south east of Turkey.
Huawei developed algorithms to enable greater efficiency within the 900MHz band, allowing the operator to offer a more efficient LTE and 2G service.
The operator said the spectrum sharing led to a 58 percent increase in average downlink user throughout and 44 percent average increase in uplink, compared to a standard 5MHz block of LTE bandwidth.
Mallik Rao, Chief Technology Officer of Vodafone Turkey said: “Spectrum is an extremely valuable resource. Traditional refarming of spectrum results in a low utilisation rate. In comparison, GL spectrum sharing supports more efficient use of the bandwidth. That has helped to boost spectral efficiency and improve the overall experience of 4G users in Diyarbakir. I am very pleased with the favourable results and anticipate deploying this across our entire network in Turkey.”
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Meanwhile, Turkcell used Huawei’s dynamic spectrum sharing solution between GSM and UMTS networks to show how spectral efficiency could be increased by 20 percent.
While the operator’s mobile broadband penetration rate grew by 10 percent last year, with average monthly data consumption of 2.8GB, there remains “considerable” data traffic across its GSM network.
Huawei said its GU@5MHz solution allows Turkcell to dynamically share spectrum resources, ensuring its 3G services are not affected by consumer demand.
The vendor said the tests showed a 20 percent increase in throughput and GSM network quality increased by 30 percent.
Gediz Sezgin, Chief Network Officer at Turkcell, said: “Dynamic spectrum sharing is a truly significant breakthrough in spectrum allocation. It allows for better use of spectrum, keeping 2G networks stable and accelerating MBB development. I am very pleased with the favourable results.”