Nokia Networks and Huawei have held carrier aggregation trials with Asian operators, with the Chinese vendor aiming to launch tri-band LTE-A in Hong Kong.
The Finnish vendor showcased speeds of 220MBps with China Mobile, by aggregating the 3.5GHz and 2.6GHz TD-LTE bands. It said such speeds would allow users to download a five minute video clip in two seconds.
Huang Yuhong, Vice President of China Mobile Research Institute, said: “The mobile 4G market is developing very fast in China. On the one hand, millions of users are able to enjoy the convenience brought to them by mobile broadband; on the other hand, we feel the necessity to increase spectrum resources to meet the needs of fast growing data traffic.
“The 3.5 GHz band is another important spectrum resource for 4G networks, which will be used in TD-LTE. This demo not only proves the commercial feasibility of the 3.5 GHz TD-LTE band, but also shows 3.5 GHz can be aggregated with current bands, enhancing 4G networks with more capacity.”
Meanwhile, Huawei held a demonstration of FDD and TDD carrier aggregation on a commercial network, in a trial with 3 Hong Kong and Qualcomm.
The trial, a first for Hong Kong, used an FDD carrier with paired spectrum in the 1800MHz and 2600MHz bands, as well as the TDD 2.3GHz frequency. The operator said it would launch the network commercially next year, once handsets are available.
Huawei is turning its attention to launching a commercial tri-band carrier aggregation network in Hong Kong next week. It said it wants to take advantage of 3 Hong Kong’s bandwidth portfolio, with it owning spectrum in the 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2.1GHz, 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz bands.
Peter Wong, CEO of 3 Hong Kong’s parent HTHKH, said: “CA technology enables us to fully utilise valuable spectrum resources and device long-term plans on network deployment so that we can continue to improve the outstanding data services we offer our customers. 3 Hong Kong plans to re-farm the 900 and 2100MHz spectrum for our LTE network in the near future, and we remain committed to establishing a 5CC LTE-A network.”
Huawei also announced a TDD+ solution, which it developed alongside China Mobile and Softbank. It said the technology could meet future data demands as the industry moves to 5G.
It is based on existing LTE tech, such as 4T4R and 8T8R, and Huawei said it is able to use multi-antenna systems more efficiently through software upgrades, thereby minimising interference.
Other features of the tech include increased spectral efficiency through distributed MIMO and carrier aggregation, and offering greater coverage by using higher frequency spectrum.
Huawei plans to deploy commercial TDD+ networks in 2016.