Australian telecommunications giant, Telstra, has hit network speeds of 450 megabits per second (Mbps) by coupling the 1800MHz and 2600MHz bands on LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation.
The telco’s network partner, Ericsson, was involved in the installation of equipment to drive two new 4G Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) channels of 20MHz bandwidth each on the 2600MHz band, aggregated with 20MHz of 4G on 1800MHz.
Three simultaneous paths were moving data through to the operational core network, which were combined by a prototype Cat 9 engineering device to achieve the speeds.
The result triples that of the 150Mbps peak network speeds which Telstra or its local rivals currently deliver on 4G.
“This test allows us to see how the technology works ahead of when we make a future investment in it,” Telstra Networks group managing director, Mike Wright, said.
“Conducting this type of test is a significant step in the network engineering and development process. It is essential for us to see how this type of technology works in the live network and understand what needs to be done to continue to absorb the exploding demand in mobile broadband and offer an exceptional customer experience.”
Real-world results at the commercial level will logically be lower than that reached in Telstra’s controlled environment, but Telstra’s said despite the unlikelihood of individual users achieving this bandwidth, it demonstrates the telco’s ability to carry large traffic loads to meet future usage demands.
