Ericsson and Angolan operator Unitel have announced the first commercial trial of LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) carrier aggregation (CA) technology in Africa.
The operator transferred data across its live network on both 1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands on a number of sites in Luanda.
Unitel Deputy CEO Amilcar Safeca said the company is “well on the way” to launching the most advanced mobile network in Angola and perhaps Africa in the near future.
“Using LTE-A technology, operators can increase their network capacity and enhance the mobile broadband user experience, enabling up to 1Gbps data rates in the future,” added Magnus Mchunguzi, Vice President, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa.
“This demo places Unitel on the very limited list of operators in the world to demonstrate LTE-A in a live network using a commercial terminal.”
Last month, Ericsson and Australian operator Telstra achieved 300 Mbps speeds in a test on Telstra’s 4G LTE-A network using CA, while in November Telefónica Germany teamed up with Huawei to activate its LTE-Advanced radio cell.
CA benefits operators with multiple spectrum positions and particularly those that are combining acquired networks.
A report published by research firm Analysys Mason last month, says that in 2014, more operators will deploy CA, including operators doing initial LTE deployments.
“The initial focus is on higher-speed services, but we expect more deployments of 5+5MHz carrier aggregation as emerging markets deploy LTE in 2014,” says Chris Nicoll, Principal Analyst and Author of the report.
The analyst says that early testing of CA is enabling operators to bind separate spectrum channels together to create larger channels and faster wireless services.
“Larger network operators such as AT&T, Sprint, Telefónica, Verizon and Vodafone, as well as operators holding multiple spectrum positions such as EE, T-Mobile, Telstra, will be early implementers of carrier aggregation,” says Nicoll.
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