Ericsson has conducted an over-the-air field trial with Slovak Telecom to demonstrate intra-band contiguous LTE-A carrier aggregation.
The vendor said it was the first time that intra-band spectrum had been used to hit downlink speeds of 300MBps. The demonstration took place at Bratislava’s Magio Beach using two separate 20MHz chunks in the 2600MHz band.
Ericsson provided the infrastructure for the demonstration, with the terminal using a Qualcomm chipset.
Branimir Maric, Chief Technology and Information Officer at Slovak Telekom, commented: “Thanks to combination of frequency spectrum obtained in auction and rich experience in LTE technology we have decided to take this opportunity and demonstrate first test of its kind with speeds up to 300 Mbps in our LTE network.
“Slovak Telekom is very active in testing new technologies – as we proved several times, with HSPA+ 21 and 42 Mbps launches, HSPA+ 84 Mbps trial in Bratislava or LTE launch in 2600 MHz spectrum with speeds up to 150/50 Mbps. I believe that this LTE-A test with 300 Mbps download is strong showcase of our next development and our technologies.”
Ericsson has also provided Slovak Telecom with the equipment for its 2G and 3G radio access network and circuit switched core. Last year it helped the operator to launch LTE.
Marian Bezak, Head of Ericsson Slovakia, said: “The trial in Slovakia is unique due to the fact of using intra-band Carrier Aggregation. Introducing carrier aggregation will support Slovak Telekom in continuing to stay the technology leader in the Slovak market and providing advanced user experience to the subscribers.”
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