South Korea's LG U+ has developed a technology to combine Wi-Fi spectrum with its LTE network.
The operator has combined LTE in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) technology with licensed LTE bands to deliver speeds up to four times that of a standard LTE network, Yonhap Newsreported.
By aggregating 20 MHz of unlicensed 5.8-GHz spectrum with 20 MHz of 2.6-GHz LTE spectrum, the company was able to achieve a download speed of 300Mbps. The technology will provide transmission speeds equivalent to 5G, the operator asserts.
LG U+ said this is the first successful test of aggregated Wi-Fi and LTE spectrum from the telecom industry.
The first smart devices supporting LTE-U are expected to reach the market by the second half of 2016.
But the prospect of providing LTE under unlicensed spectrum is proving to be controversial, facing opposition even from within the 3GPP. One concern is that LTE-U will interfere with or block Wi-Fi transmissions.