The arrival of LTE-Advanced handsets in Europe could be a step closer following testing by Anite and Huawei-owned chipset manufacturer HiSilicon.
UK-based vendor Anite said it had verified Release 10 LTE-A protocols in HiSilicon’s Balong720 chipset, the world’s first LTE Cat6 platform supporting 20 MHz + 20 MHz carrier aggregation (CA).
CA is a key component of LTE-A that allows blocks of spectrum to be dynamically combined to provide high data rates. According to HiSilicon, the Balong720 chipset is capable of achieving data rates of 300 Mbps.
The companies used Anite’s Conformance Toolset – a protocol conformance and performance testing solution – for the task.
Although operators in Europe have cited the lack of available handsets as a reason for lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to LTE-A deployments, they are increasingly testing and, in some cases, deploying LTE-A networks.
Last week, for example, Telefónica Germany activated its fastest LTE-A radio cell using CA and said it was testing Cat6 devices provided by Huawei.
Last month, UK operator EE claimed to launch the world’s fastest 4G LTE network using LTE-A CA in London’s Tech City.
In August, meanwhile, Australia’s Telstra and Ericsson announced the first commercial trial of LTE-A CA technology on 1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands.
Anite unveiled its LTE-A CA testing solution for mobile operators and network infrastructure vendors in October.