Telefonica recently teamed up with Ericsson to demonstrate live, over-the-air delivery of LTE-U through Telefónica's network. The demonstration leveraged Ericsson RBS 6402 - a high-performance indoor pico cell solution offering three standards (LTE, WCDMA and Wi-Fi), 10 frequency bands and up to 300 Mbps LTE carrier aggregation.
LTE-U is a commercially available Ericsson Networks Software capability that enables operators to utilize unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum in combination with their licensed LTE spectrum. As a result, operators can increase download speeds in indoor environments, improve application coverage and raise the quality of their subscribers' mobile data experiences.
Ericsson is also announcing the implementation of a range of enhancements to the Ericsson Networks Software LTE-U offering that includes full co-existence between LTE-U and Rel-13 LAA devices on the same LAA carrier. This will allow operators across the globe to leverage unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum for improved peak rates and capacity even before Rel-13 LAA becomes available, in places where national regulations allow the use pre-Rel-13 LAA standards, said Ericsson.
Angel Blazquez, Director of Radio and Core in Telefonica Spain
This demonstration proves that multiple technologies will co-exist for best use of all spectrum and to support all deployment scenarios, widening the LTE ecosystem using the aggregation with licensed spectrum to provide the best performance experience.
Eric Parsons, Head of Mobile Broadband, 4G/5G Radio Access, Ericsson
By enabling the use of unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum to boost peak data rates and capacity, LTE-U helps operators extract maximum value from their spectrum investments while bringing high-quality experiences to mobile broadband users everywhere.
