Belgian operator Mobistar claims to have become the nation’s first to successfully test an LTE-A network, claiming mobile data throughput of over 200Mbps.
The operator conducted the trial by aggregating frequencies in the 1800MHz and 800MHz spectrum blocks, combining the two swathes of spectrum to increase capacity by 30 per cent for indoor coverage. Mobistar used network equipment provider Huawei’s CAT6 CPE E5186s-22a prototype device for the test.
“This 4G+ technology is the future of high-speed mobile and will enable a great improvement in flexibility and performances for the user”, explained Gabriel Flichy, chief network officer at Mobistar.
The tests were conducted in the city of Mechelen, where the firm will initiate the launch of the service. Mobistar added that it will begin marketing the service when LTE-A compatible devices enter the market and its national coverage is sufficient to offer a high quality of service.
The commercial launch of LTE-A services has been limited to early adopters thus far. In January, SK Telecom announced it has successfully developed LTE-Advanced tri-band carrier aggregation technology to ease network congestion in built up areas in South Korea. It followed the announcement by announcing plans to extend its LTE and LTE-A networks by building additional base stations using the 1.8GHz band by the end of this year. Local rivals KT and LG Uplus also announced the launch of their LTE-A services last year