Record-breaking 4G speeds of up to 2Gbps have been achieved by Telstra, Ericsson, Netgear and Qualcomm Technologies in laboratory testing using a chipset that was recently released.
Qualcomm Technologies is a subsidiary of chipmaker Qualcomm.
A statement from Ericcson said these speeds were achieved using Ericsson's Baseband 6630, Radio 4415, and latest Gigabit LTE network software.
The speeds were enabled by aggregating five 20 MHz LTE carriers across three different frequency bands with each carrier using 4x4 MIMO and 256 QAM technologies.
{loadposition sam08}During the demonstration, 2Gbps speeds were achieved by aggregating 100MHz of spectrum across the bands 1, 3 and 7, using a Netgear Nighthawk mobile router equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X24 LTE modem, the world's first-announced Category 20 LTE modem.
Telstra group managing director of Networks, Mike Wright, said: "With the ever-increasing demand for data and the need to provide our customers with a superior user experience, we are always striving to provide new solutions and develop advanced technologies.
"Following Telstra’s world-first gigabit-enabled network launch in January 2017, we are delighted to again be partnering with Ericsson and Qualcomm to double these speeds. This achievement demonstrates our continued LTE innovation, providing our customers with an unrivalled network experience and preparing our networks for future growth.”
The achieving of 2Gbps speeds follows the first 1Gbps speed demonstration in November 2015 and the first commercial Gigabit LTE network launch in January 2017.
Serge Willenegger, senior vice-president and general manager, 4G/5G and Industrial IoT, Qualcomm Wireless, said: "By setting this major industry milestone, we’re helping mobile operators fully mobilise their spectrum assets and maximise the capacity of their Gigabit LTE networks and allowing mobile device makers to offer consumers a preview of new services soon expected to be enabled with 5G networks.”
Joakim Sorelius, head of Product Area Network Systems at Ericsson, said: “We’re pushing the boundaries of technology and providing unprecedented advances in LTE evolution by breaking the 2Gbps barrier with our partners.
"This technology advancement will enable faster mobile broadband speeds and greater network capacity for all subscribers. This is important as users consume and generate greater amounts of content via video streaming and share their own pictures and video content.”
The four companies will demonstrate 2Gbps speeds at a live demonstration during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which is being held from 26 February to 1 March.
Photo: courtesy Ericsson