Ericsson demonstrates 10-times faster LTE

Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson on Tuesday demonstrated LTE Advanced technology it claimed produced speeds more than 10 times faster than existing LTE networks in the nation. 

Ericsson showed offer its technology to Sweden's spectrum regulator PTS in Stockholm’s technology hub, Kista.  

LTE Advanced could prove an appealing technology for network operators, with the demonstration relying on the comercially available RBS 6000 base station that was being deployed by Telstra for its LTE network.

The Swedish demonstration, which involved streaming traffic to a moving van, ran in a test frequency provided by the regulator.

Ericsson did not disclose what download and upload speeds it achieved to make its claim, however a recent street test of TeliaSonera’s LTE network, which relies on two 20 MHz channels, suggests that LTE Advanced could offer anywhere between 300 Mbps and 800 Mbps in downlink speeds.

The street test on current LTE networks in the country, which Computerworld Sweden ran this month, produced average download speeds of 33.4 Mbps and a top speed of 84.5 Mbps.

The key enhancements offered by LTE Advanced were “carrier aggregation” and extended multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) where multiple antennas were used to boost speeds. 

Carrier aggregation allowed Ericsson to combine three sets of 20 MHz channels to create an aggregated 60 MHz while using 8x8 MIMO on the downlink, it said. 

Ericsson expected the first stages of LTE Advanced to be in commercial operation in 2013. 

"Ericsson encourages all regulators to allocate harmonised spectrum as early as possible," said Ulf Ewaldsson, Ericsson's vice president and head of product area radio.

"The next step of LTE enhances the current service offering, performance and data speed even further. It provides operators with the opportunity to capitalise further on their existing infrastructure.”