Nokia Networks and China Telecom have successfully demonstrated the world’s first FDD-TDD carrier aggregation including a user device chipset.
In the demonstration by China Telecom, Nokia’s LTE base station achieved interoperability with a commercial user chipset developed by Marvell. This successful interoperability is a milestone toward commercial adoption of the carrier aggregation to significantly improve the LTE network speed and coverage for LTE users in areas where both variants of LTE are deployed.
A stable peak download speed of 260 Mbps was achieved in the carrier aggregation demonstration with FDD 20 MHz in 1.8 GHz and TDD 20 MHz in 2.6 GHz spectrum. For the total speed, FDD spectrum contributed to 150 Mbps while TDD spectrum contributed to 110 Mbps.
The successful interoperability of Nokia’s LTE base station with a user device chipset means the FDD-TDD carrier aggregation is rapidly getting closer to real deployment for the benefits of LTE users. This accomplishment is very significant for China Telecom as it can utilise its FDD band 3 for improving LTE coverage, and TDD band 41 for improving throughput and capacity for the best possible LTE service experience. Carrier aggregation will allow the operator to optimally use the scarce spectrum resources while providing the best LTE service experience.
Zhang Qi, Vice President of TD-LTE, Nokia Networks, said: “This achievement with our partner China Telecom will also encourage other operators globally to look at further spectrum combination for FDD-TDD carrier aggregation into advanced 3GPP Rel-12. We are already working with many major operators globally to deliver FDD-TDD convergence for commercial use.”
