Singtel, Ericsson smash 1Gbps limit in LAA trial

Singtel and Ericsson have achieved an Asia-Pacific first in wireless technology by delivering a peak speed of 1.1Gbps in a joint trial of a new configuration of licensed assisted access (LAA) technology. Following this successful trial, Singtel will explore the feasibility to deploy the technology on its network. Singtel’s 4.5G LTE network currently offers Singapore’s fastest and widest mobile data speeds at 500Mbps nationwide.

Conducted in a Singtel laboratory, the trial delivered speeds that breached the 1Gbps barrier by combining several LTE technologies including 256 QAM, 4x4 MIMO and the aggregation of two licensed and three unlicensed spectrum bands on a TM500 Test System device*.

Mark Chong, Singtel’s Group CTO said: “We are very encouraged by this breakthrough in peak speeds. In Singapore, a large percentage of mobile traffic is generated indoors with more mobile customers browsing the web, streaming video and accessing cloud applications on the go. We are now in a position to deploy LAA technology to boost our LTE mobile capacity to meet increasing traffic demand. This will allow us to deliver a faster and more reliable mobile connectivity experience even during peak periods.”

Singtel says the unique 12-layered LAA configuration used in the trial will provide LTE speeds up to three times faster than prevailing peak speeds. The speed boost will be especially welcome indoors.

Martin Wiktorin, Country Manager for Ericsson Singapore, Brunei & the Philippines, says: “Licensed assisted access took wireless technology to a whole new level, delivering the increased capacity and faster speeds that operators demand as they evolve their networks. This trial is a significant milestone in the use of LAA, pushing the limits of Gigabit LTE in a unique configuration of advanced technologies.”

This latest breakthrough extends the partnership of Singtel and Ericsson in 4.5G LTE and trialling 5G in Singapore. Earlier this year, high download speeds of up to 800Mbps were achieved on Singtel’s high-performance LTE network by deploying 256 QAM downlink, 4x4 MIMO and triple carrier aggregation techniques. In October 2017, the partners jointly established a 5G Centre of Excellence to facilitate 5G development in Singapore.

Explore:

Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts about Singtel's deployment of small cells with Ericsson and their Massive MIMO and cloud RAN pilot

*In the trial, four layers with 4X4 MIMO on licensed spectrum were used, as well as two layers on a second licensed band, and six layers with LAA (two layers X three unlicensed bands). The Ericsson Radio System hardware used included Radio 2203 for the licensed spectrum and Radio 2205 for the LAA (unlicensed spectrum). All radios were connected to a single Baseband 5216. The test device was supplied by Cobham Wireless and Stellent Networks.