The German operator bundled four frequency bands for the first time to achieve speeds almost twice as fast as the fastest commercial fibre broadband
O2 Telefónica, the Spanish operating group’s German subsidiary, has bundled four frequency bands in 5G Standalone mode to reach peak download speeds of more than 1.7Gbps. This bundling of frequencies is known as carrier aggregation. The company says this is almost twice as fast as the fastest commercial fibre connectivity available.
O2 Telefónica carried out the tests with Nokia in the Innovation Cluster in Potsdam using a Samsung S24 Ultra handset. These are several such locations in O2 Telefónica’s network where the two companies test the latest technologies and that are also open to customers.
For this test, O2 Telefónica used frequencies at 3.6GHz and 700MHz which are already used for 5G, plus 1800MHz and 2100MHz, which are normally used for 4G. The operator said that it could achieve speeds of 2Gbps in the lab using this combination of spectrum.
The 1.7GTbps measurements were taken during a live test on the O2 network in 5G SA mode, also known as 5G Plus. This has been available to customers on the entire O2 Telefónica 5G network since October 2023.
Matthias Sauder, Director Networks at O2 Telefónica, said, “The speeds achieved in the test illustrate the possibilities that 5G Standalone offers in practice. They are a taste of further technological developments and the network expansion of the future.”