The plan is to offer LAA service starting in 2017
Singapore telecommunications operator Singtel and Ericsson said they successfully conducted a live trial of prestandard license assisted access on Singtel’s network earlier this month.
The trial was completed after a two-week period of testing using multiple RBS 6402 indoor small cells, Wi-Fi access points, prototype LAA devices and Wi-Fi devices.
The Asian telco said it provided the 20 megahertz of licensed spectrum in the 1800 MHz band for the LTE anchor carrier, augmented with 20 megahertz of unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band in the live network deployed in an office building at Serangoon North.
LTE-Unlicensed is designed to unlock unlicensed spectrum for LTE use and is designed to boost connection speeds by applying LTE technology efficiencies to boost licensed spectrum. LAA comes with added functionality known as listen-before-talk designed to ensure coexistence with other Wi-Fi devices on the same unlicensed spectrum.
The live test showed throughput speeds up to 275 megabits per second, Singtel said.
The second test case showcased LAA ability to co-exist with Wi-Fi signals without affecting user experience in Wi-Fi.
According to Ericsson ConsumerLab, almost 85% of mobile traffic is generated indoors in urban areas across Singapore. With this scenario, Singtel estimates extensive LAA implementation can provide a network capacity boost for mobile customers. The operator said the service will be progressively deployed in Singapore over the next two years, beginning in the first half of 2017. New handset models supporting LAA are expected to be available by early 2017.
“5G standards do not yet exist but 5G is expected to be an evolution of today’s LTE networks along with new radio technologies and use cases,” said Ericsson Singapore Country Manager Martin Wiktorin. “Ericsson and Singtel are very focused on technologies like LAA which will be key to operators as they evolve their LTE networks to support increasing mobile broadband demand from consumers, businesses and the ‘internet of things’ towards 5G.”
Singtel recently announced plans to launch commercial voice-over-Wi-Fi service in August following positive results from its heterogeneous network trial conducted over the past year in the Jurong Lake District.
