Vodafone, Huawei trial GL 900MHz dynamic spectrum sharing in Turkey

Vodafone Group’s Networks Centre of Excellence team and the Huawei Mobile Innovation Centre have been testing a dynamic way to help address spectrum constraints in Turkey.

The teams have completed the world’s first trial of GSM/LTE (GL) 900MHz dynamic spectrum sharing on Vodafone’s commercial networks in the Black Coast city of Trabzon.

Last year Vodafone and Huawei achieved unparalleled overlap by GSM (2G) and LTE (4G) services within the 900 MHz spectrum band (see here). Now we have shown that it is possible to assign that spectrum dynamically i.e. available 900 MHz can be allocated between 4G and 2G services based on customer demand.

In the trial, which took place over several months, dynamic sharing allowed Vodafone Turkey to provide up to 10MHz of 4G capacity and throughput in a very effective way. 4G KPIs clearly show the improvement in network performance and better user experience. The test cases showed that download and upload throughput improved by 20%.

Mallik Rao, Vodafone Turkey’s Chief Technology Officer, said: "Spectrum is an extremely precious asset. This new network optimization technique improves spectral efficiency and enhances the experience of Vodafone customers."

Ying Weimin, President of Huawei Wireless Network Research & Development, said: “We are glad to have tested GL 900MHz dynamic spectrum sharing on Vodafone Turkey’s commercial networks, and to have achieved satisfying performance results in the past few months. Huawei is dedicated to offering technical innovations to secure our customers' business success.”