Ericsson, Singtel and Qualcomm have achieved the world’s first LTE FDD/TDD carrier aggregation using commercially-available hardware and software.
SingTel reported downlink data speeds of up to 260Mbps after the trial in the company’s Singapore office on October 3, where Ericsson aggregated 20MHz of LTE FDD spectrum with 20MHz of LTE TDD spectrum.
The demonstration was achieved using Qualcomm’s TDD/ FDD-compatible Snapdragon 810 processor and Ericsson software designed to support the vendor’s multi-standard RBS6000 base station range.
Tay Yeow Lian, MD for Networks at Singtel, said that the operator was already using dual-layers of LTE FDD with LTE-A carrier aggregation in its network and planned to open up more TDD spectrum for users.
He commented: “We will continue to explore the future option of bundling even TDD spectrum into the LTE carrier aggregation to expand network capacity, allowing our customers to enjoy consistent high data speed download even at high traffic areas.”
“By working closely with Qualcomm Technologies, Ericsson is moving FDD/TDD Carrier Aggregation from a trial concept towards a commercial solution that we can plan to further differentiate our performance advantage in the future when the additional TDD spectrum is available.”
Ericsson claimed its approach to FDD/TDD carrier aggregation optimises spectrum and increases TDD coverage by 70 percent and held earlier trials over the summer.
Last month, the vendor held the “world’s first” intra-band LTE-A carrier aggregation trial with Slovak Telecom, achieving downlinks speeds up to 300Mbps on its LTE network by using two lots of 20MHz in the 2600MHz band.
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