Telia, Ericsson trial 5G carrier aggregation in the Nordics

As part of Telia’s ambition to bring nationwide 5G coverage to Norway by 2023, Telia and Ericsson have initiated a 5G New Radio (NR) TDD-FDD carrier aggregation for coverage extension trial in Lillestrøm, a town located next to Oslo, the capital city of Norway.

To drive optimal 5G user experience, carrier aggregation will enable Telia to maximize its existing spectrum and extend coverage in the mid-band frequencies (3.6 GHz), boosting capacity and increasing peak throughput for faster data speeds.

With the successful trial, Ericsson and Telia demonstrated the revolutionary nature of 5G carrier aggregation. The solution further enhances the 5G user experience by extending coverage of the mid-band TDD bands using the uplink of the FDD band, showing an increase in 5G coverage of over 50% in the 3.6 GHz band. With 5G Carrier Aggregation, the download speed further out in the cell was significantly improved.

Alongside the trial, Telia and Ericsson are already making progress toward Telia’s 2023 goal and are expected to deliver 5G to 19 more cities by mid-2021, with 50 percent of the country projected to have coverage by the end of 2021.

Espen Weum, Acting Head of Infra, Telia Norway: “We are very proud to together with Ericsson be the first in the Nordics to successfully test 5G carrier aggregation. With this new technology, our mobile and FWA customers will experience enhanced capacity, coverage, and speed on our fast-expanding 5G network. We will begin to roll out carrier aggregation in our network as soon as we have completed the on-going testing phase.”

“Initial test results from our Lillestrøm trial show an increase in 5G coverage of over 50 percent in the 3.6 GHz band, which really shows the potential of 5G carrier aggregation. We will also be able to considerably improve indoor coverage with this solution”, he continues.

“We are very pleased to be supporting Telia’s ambitions for a better-connected world with our technology. As a game-changer for utilizing valuable mid-band spectrum, 5G Carrier Aggregation will help meet the growing demand for mobile data and give Telia’s customers access to more bandwidth at greater speed,” says Daniel Ode, Head of Global Customer Unit Telia Company, Ericsson.