Initial testbeds in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and Detroit; carrier aggregation expanded to almost 40 more markets
A photo of Sprint promotional material, leaked onto Reddit by an apparent Sprint employee, details the carrier’s U.S. trial of 2×20 megahertz 2.5 GHz carrier aggregation, which promises to offer Sprint customers higher data speeds in more than 40 markets.
Chipmaker Qualcomm is a pioneer in the carrier aggregation space and describes it as “the first step of LTE-Advanced. It offers very high peak data rates as well as increased data rates for all users in the cell, and can bring higher capacity for bursty applications. Carrier aggregation continues to evolve, supporting more carriers, aggregation across FDD/TDD, across cells and more.”
Carrier aggregation essentially combines carrier coverage and capacity from a spectrum perspective at the network and device levels. As for devices, the Sprint material indicates seven supporting devices: the HTC M9, LG G4, LG G Flex II, Samsung Note Edge, Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and the ZTE Hot Spot.
Back in February, Sprint Chief Network Officer John Saw discussed in a blog post the role carrier aggregation play’s in the carrier’s overall network strategy.
“With a new multi-modal platform upon which to innovate, we will leverage technology developments such as carrier aggregation,” Saw wrote. “By combining TDD and FDD LTE across all of our spectrum bands we can build the big pipes we need to offer better performance and faster speeds. In addition, our expected transition to an all-IP-based platform will provide a path for deploying VoLTE and unlock new potential for services that delight our customers. … We have an incredible amount of work ahead, but I’m confident we have the right plan, the right team, and the right assets to compete. And clearly, we have momentum.”
The initial test markets were Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and Detroit. The newly added markets, according to the material posted to Reddit, are: Boston; New Jersey; Long Island, N.Y.; Philadelphia; Providence, R.I.; southern Connecticut; Baltimore; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; east and west Michigan; Indianapolis; Washington, D.C.; Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, Texas; Kansas; Missouri; Athens, Ga,; Miami/West Palm, Orlando, southwest Florida and Tampa, Fla.; Colorado; Milwaukee; Minnesota; Oregon; southwest Washington and west Washington; Utah; Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside/San Bernardino, San Diego and San Francisco, Calif.; and Las Vegas.
