PCCW-HKT and Huawei have jointly demonstrated the world's first IP-RAN based LTE-A 450Mbps solution, achieving peak data rates of 440Mbps during a live demonstration.
During the Hong Kong demonstration, the companies trialled three component carrier inter-site LTE-A carrier aggregation using three 20MHz spectrum blocks.
HKT is deploying a 450Mbps LTE network using the IP-RAN based solution used in the trial, and expects the network to be commercialized for smartphones by next year.
“Building on our fiber-rich network and leveraging our widest range of mobile spectrum, HKT commercially launched Hong Kong’s LTE-A 300Mbps network in December 2014 by combining two 20MHz spectrum blocks,” HKT Engineering managing director Peter Lam said.
“With Huawei’s advanced IP-RAN based CA solution, HKT will be able to get the most from our frequency resources to further raise the bar to LTE-A 450Mbps by combining disparate chunks of 20MHz spectrums from different sites.”
Huawei's inter-site carrier aggregation solution combines carriers from more than one cell site to maximize coverage, allowing operators to overcome the limitations of fragmented spectrum resources.
“Huawei and HKT are committed to building a world-leading LTE-A commercial network for Hong Kong,” Huawei president of wireless networks David Wang added.
“Having achieved the world’s first inter-site 3CC CA realization, we will now work together to plan for the full commercial use of this technology, aiming to further uplift the mobile experience for Hong Kong users.”