The French telecoms regulator Autorite de Regulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes (Arcep) has given the mobile operator Orange the go-ahead in conducting trials of its Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) technology, TeleGeography reports.

A press release said that this will be carried out in Bordeaux, in a densely populated urban environment and will let Orange test the network\'s performance and identify any possible benefits of using next-generation technology. The cellco will use a 2×20 MHz channel in the 2.6 GHz band, with an identical channel in the 3.5 GHz band for the experiment, and expects the LTE-A technology to be able to provide maximum downlink speeds of 300 Mbps.

Arcep said that the trial was the first of its kind to get France\'s approval and that the regulator has invited other operators to try similar trials to accelerate the development of ultra-high-speed mobile access.