Ericsson, Qualcomm complete LTE Category 9 Carrier Aggregation Interoperability testing

Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated have successfully completed the inter-company interoperability testing of LTE Category 9 connectivity, with download speeds of up to 450 Mbps.

Testing was conducted using Ericsson's LTE-Advanced network infrastructure and QTI's next-generation LTE-Advanced modem. The Category 9 speeds allow mobile users to enjoy blazing-fast downloads, swift application performance, and the ability to reliably utilize more connectivity-based applications in greater coverage areas.

Thomas Norén, Vice President, Head of Radio Product Management at Ericsson says: "Inter-company vendor interoperability testing between network and device is key to enabling large-scale commercial deployments. Working with ecosystem partner Qualcomm, we continue to drive LTE innovation and performance improvements, ensuring a great user experience even as mobile broadband demand grows."

Serge Willenegger, Vice President of Product Management, QTI, says: "We are excited to see our next-generation LTE-Advanced modem play an important role in enabling the world's first multi-company interoperability Category 9 test. We are pleased to be working closely with Ericsson to help lead the mobile industry's transition to next-generation network connectivity as ultra-fast mobile broadband connectivity has become an essential feature for mobile users."

The equipment used for the tests was based on Ericsson's commercially available 14B software release supporting the company's multi-standard RBS 6000 family of base stations for macro and small cell networks, which allows for unparalleled user experience on operator networks using multi-frequency deployments. Ericsson supports all bandwidth and frequency combinations for up to 60 MHz 3x Carrier Aggregation, providing users with speeds of up to 450 Mbps.