Polkomtel has become the first operator in Poland to successfully trial carrier aggregation, hitting speeds of 300MBps.
The Polish operator, which trades under the Plus brand name, brought together 20MHz of spectrum in its 1800MHz and 2600MHz holdings. Ericsson provided its equipment and assistance with the tests.Â
Oliver Kanzi, Ericsson’s CEO in Poland, said he expected the commercial deployment of the technology to begin after the forthcoming auction of 800MHz and 2600MHz spectrum.Â
The auction was originally due to take place in January but was abandoned after numerous objections from operators about its running.
Polkomtel said the breakthrough is just the latest first it has achieved with LTE technology. Among its successes, it claimed it was the first to hit speeds on 150MBps on its LTE network, the first to show off LTE-Advanced technology in the 800MHz band and  the company that debuted LTE broadcast technology in the country. It has also been holding trials of VoLTE technology.
CEO Tobias Solorz commented: “Plus once again demonstrated that it boldly reaches out for new solutions and that it is not only the leader in LTE technology but that it sets trends and standards for web services in Poland.”
Carrier aggregation is seen as a means of making networks more efficient and improving the user experience for customers who do not even use compatible handsets. Next year, Category 6 handsets, which can provide speeds of up to 450MBps, will hit the mainstream.
Have you taken our 2014/15 survey? Click here to take part.
Read more: