Nokia and Telefonica Deutschland (O2) have announced that they have successfully aggregated sub-6GHz spectrum frequencies in a two-component carrier (2CC) uplink Carrier Aggregation (CA) trial in a 5G Standalone (5G SA) network. 

Nokia has previously demonstrated four component carrier downlink 5G CA, as well as uplink CA on millimeter wave spectrum. Together with Telefonica Deutschland, the Finnish vendor says it is the first to combine sub-6GHz spectrum to boost uplink throughput. CA will improve the performance of 5G by delivering improved uplink network usability at the cell edge with higher reliability and lower latency. Nokia provided solutions from its AirScale portfolio and MediaTek provided its 5G mobile platform. The companies used the combination of a 20MHz carrier on the 1800MHz band and a 70MHz carrier on the 3.6GHz band using CA technology to achieve a peak throughput of 144Mbps.

‘We want to offer our customers an optimal 5G experience in their everyday digital lives. We are continuously working on technological innovations that will make our O2 network of the future more powerful,’ said Mallik Rao, Chief Technology and Information Officer at Telefonica Deutschland, adding: ‘With frequency bundling, we will enable our customers to enjoy faster downloads and uploads in our 5G network in the future. Together with our long-time partner Nokia, we have succeeded in taking this step also for uploads in the 5G SA network. CA will take our 5G network to the next level and improve the network experience.’