Bouygues Telecom has become the first operator to demonstrate tri-band carrier aggregation in France, testing the technology with Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies.
The operator is the only one to use the three bands in France that are authorised for LTE use – the 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2.6GHz bands.
It carried out the demonstration with 45MHz of spectrum split between the three bands and used a handset with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and Ericsson’s multi-standard RBS6000 base stations. Bouygues said it hit speeds of “significantly” more than 300MBps.
The operator plans to roll out the technology commercially by the end of the summer, at no extra cost to its existing LTE offers.
Jean-Paul Arzel, Bouygues Telecom Network Director, said: “We have crossed an important threshold with Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, which we consider leaders in LTE technologies. We are working together to put France’s quickest and most reliable network in place. Aggregation of the three carriers will allow us to provide our customers with ultra-fast mobile broadband.”
Enrico Salvatori, President of Qualcomm Europe, added: “We are delighted to participate in the advent of ultra-fast mobile broadband in France alongside Bouygues Telecom and Ericsson. The French population will soon have an opportunity to take advantage of faster and more reliable connectivity, as well as have an unrivalled user experience.”
According to the latest figures from the Global mobile Suppliers Association, demand for Category 6 LTE-Advanced is increasing, with 20 operators commercially launching the service across 15 countries.
In total, 49 operators have launched different types of LTE-Advanced in 31 countries, offering speeds of up to 300MBps.
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