Ericsson said it has achieved 300 Mbps speeds in a test on Telstra’s 4G LTE-Advanced network using Carrier Aggregation.
The demonstration aggregated 20 MHz bandwidth within the 1800 MHz band and 20 MHz bandwidth within the 2600 MHz band.
Telstra said the trials would be used to help develop the Australian operator’s plans next year ahead of the release of the 700MHz spectrum for 4G at the beginning of 2015.
The two companies claim to have made the world’s first commercial LTE-A call on 1800 MHz and 900 Mhz spectrum in August.
Telstra’s executive director of networks, Mike Wright, said that the tests were an ”important foundational step” towards being able to deploy Cat 6 LTE-A using CA.
Wright added that the operator was now only “a few hundred” base stations away from reaching its 85 percent 4G LTE coverage target.
While 4G LTE is still in the development stages in Europe, operators are increasingly testing CA to offer faster speed and better user experience.
Last week, for example, Telefónica Germany activated its fastest LTE-A radio cell using CA, while UK operator EE claimed to launch the world’s fastest 4G LTE network using LTE-A CA in London’s Tech City.
CA will offer considerable increases in peak speed (and eventually average user speed) as well as further reductions in the unit cost of a megabyte of traffic during the next five years, according to Analysys Mason.
However, operators will need to consider the requirements of these air interface choices, such as the levels of handset, as well as base station, antenna and transmission upgrades, the research firm believes.