Nokia completes pre-standard 600MHz LTE call using commercially-available hardware

Nokia has completed first pre-standard testing of 600MHz on commercially-available hardware, creating a test bed for terminal ecosystem development and availability.

Low-band 600MHz spectrum is ideal for covering wide areas and providing bandwidth in hard-to-reach places. Nokia believes that winning bidders of the 600MHz auction will utilize this spectrum to extend LTE footprints, augment capacity and improve data speeds. The company is working on pre-standard products and solutions within its 4.5G Pro and 4.9G portfolio to better serve those customers who want to deploy radio electronics in 2017.

The early launch of services in this band is expected to first come to rural areas due to the large cell size enabled by the low band. In addition, 600MHz could be used to enhance consumer experience in metropolitan areas by increasing capacity and improving indoor coverage.

Nokia implemented the 600MHz solution on its commercial LTE eNodeB, demonstrating:

•A complete end-to-end LTE call using a test device
•20MHz frequency block on the 600MHz band
•Maximum throughput of 387Mbps
•4 way uplink receive diversity
•4X4 MIMO technology
•256 QAM

Ricky Corker, head of North America for Nokia, said: "We've been anticipating the end of the 600MHz auction, and we haven't waited. Nokia has been doing the necessary development, testing and software creation over the last several quarters. We are ready to work from day one with those customers who want to bring 600MHz to market."