Nokia and T-Mobile achieve 1.3 Gbps speeds using Licensed Assisted Access

Nokia and T-Mobile achieved download speeds of 1.3 Gbps using commercial Nokia technology with Licensed Assisted Access (LAA). This is an industry first using the Nokia commercial AirScale platform to support 14-layer transmissions.



This achievement shows how wireless companies like T-Mobile can leverage available licensed and unlicensed spectrum assets to boost performance for customers in high-traffic urban locations, using Nokia's technology for the deployment of high-capacity small cells as they evolve network infrastructures toward 5G.

Neville Ray, chief technology officer at T-Mobile, said: "We are working to deploy small cells that support LAA and build on the LTE-Advanced features we've deployed across the country, laying a foundation for 5G. Our priority is ensuring customers have the best mobile experience, so we are accelerating LAA and five carrier aggregation to give them even higher speeds and greater network performance."

Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: "Nokia is providing a path towards 5G that allows operators like T-Mobile to attain gigabit speeds with LTE by leveraging all available licensed and unlicensed spectrum. With LAA, we are helping T-Mobile gain higher download peak rates than could be achieved with licensed spectrum alone. This adds capacity beyond the spectrum licensed to this operator, and the existing network sites are used with limited TCO investment."

The tests, conducted at T-Mobile's lab in Bellevue, Washington, used commercial Nokia AirScale Micro RRH connected to an AirScale system module. Speeds of 1.3 Gbps were achieved by aggregating LTE carriers in licensed and unlicensed bands using five-component carrier aggregation, 256QAM, 4x4 MIMO and LAA on 14 antenna layers.