LTE Carrier Aggregation Deployment – From Standardization to Deployment

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26668/businessreview/2022.v7i2.354

Keywords:

LTE Carrier Aggregation, Standardization, Deployment, 5G technology

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this research was to investigate LTE Carrier Aggregation commercial deployment and how soon it happened after standardization finalization. Because LTE Carrier Aggregation feature was expected to be important feature there is good reason to expect its deployment for real commercial markets.

 

Theoretical framework: The literature at time when standardization was ongoing predicted and speculated Carrier Aggregation feature as promising deployment selection. However there is room to investigate whether Carrier Aggregation happened shortly after standard specification work finalized. 

 

Design/methodology/approach: Used methodology was to gather network operators’ and equipment manufacturers’ intentions for LTE Carrier Aggregation commercial deployment purposes during and after standardization finalization. Information found from public sources where commercial deployment intentions launched by companies.   

 

Findings: The research showed that after and already before standardization finalized there were immediate intentions for LTE Carrier Aggregation deployment. Commercial trials appeared within one year and real commercial deployments appeared within two years from standardization finalization. That means soon deployments in commercial markets when considering deployment in licensed band.

 

Research, Practical & Social implications: For future works there could be study why not LTE Carrier Aggregation solutions in unlicensed band was not successful and whether there will be changes when going towards 5G standard related deployments.

 

Originality/value: This article is an academic contribution for innovation feature commercial deployment in telecommunications industry and investigation whether LTE Carrier Aggregation feature deployment happened as soon as expected.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

GAmericas. (2014). LTE Carrier Aggregation. Technology Development and Deployment Worldwide. 4G Americas. October 2014.

Aittokallio, A. (2015). Ericsson demonstrates live LAA for Verizon, SK Telecom, T-Mobile US. February 10, 2015. https://telecoms.com/397492/ericsson-demonstrates-live-laa-for-verizon-sk-telecom-t-mobile-us

Alkhansa, R., Artail, H., & Gutierrez-Estevez, D. M. (2014). LTE-WiFi Carrier Aggregation for Future 5G Systems: A Feasibility Study and Research Challenges. Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. Broadband Wireless Networking Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, United States. 2014.

Alleven, M. (2016). Qualcomm, Deutsche Telekom complete test of LAA in Germany. Feb 3, 2016. https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/qualcomm-deutsche-telekom-complete-test-laa-germany

Alleven, M. (2017). AT&T secure in decision to go with LAA and skip LTE-U. Jul 13,2017. https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/at-t-secure-decision-to-go-laa-and-skip-lte-u

Alleven, M. (2018). T-Mobile seeing 5-10x increase in speeds thanks to LAA. Feb 12, 2018. https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/t-mobile-seeing-5-10x-increase-speeds-thanks-to-laa

Alleven, M. (2019). Editor’s Corner: 5G is here, what’s next? Nov 27,2019. https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/editor-s-corner-5g-here-so-what-s-next

Alleven_2, M. (2018). AT&T more than halfway to enabling LAA in 24 markets this year. Jul 23, 2018. https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/at-t-more-than-half-way-to-enabling-laa-24-markets-year

Alleven_3, M. (2018). 3GPP approves work item to bring 5G NR into unlicensed spectrum. Dec 14, 2018. https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/3gpp-approves-work-item-to-bring-5g-nr-into-unlicensed-spectrum

Ancans, A., Peterson, E., Ancans, G., Stetjuha, M., Ipatovs, A., Stankevicius, E. (2019). Technical and economic analysis of transport telecommunication infrastructure. Department of Transport Electronics and Telematics, Riga Technical University, Azenes St. 12-316, LV-1048, Riga Latvia. Institute of Telecommunications, Riga Technical University, Azenes St. 12-201, LV-1048, Riga Latvia. Vilnus Gediminas Technical University, Sauletekio al. 11, LT-10223, Vilnus, Lithuania.

Anite. (2013). Anite First to Market With Commercial LTE-A Carrier Aggregation Network Testing Solution. Oct 04, 2013. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/anite-first-to-market-with-commercial-lte-a-carrier-aggregation-network-testing-solution-226415721.html

Brenner, D. (2018). From LTE-U/LAA to 5G Spectrum Sharing. 17 May, 2018. https://www.lightreading.com/mobile/spectrum/from-lte-u-laa-to-5g-spectrum-sharing/a/d-id/743015

Businesswire. (2016). Sprint and Nokia Kick-Off Three-Channel Carrier Aggregation LTE Plus Deployment in Kansas City. August 31, 2016. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160831006514/en/Sprint-Nokia-Kick-Off-Three-Channel-Carrier-Aggregation-LTE (31 Aug 2016)

Calin, D. (2015). Technologies for Future Broadband Wireless Evolution. 2015 IEEE 14th Canadian Workshop on Information Theory (CWIT). Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent, Murray Hill NJ, USA.

Cision. (2017). SK Telecom Successfully Tests LTE-Advanced Five-Band Carrier Aggregation on its Commercial Network. Feb 26, 2017. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sk-telecom-successfully-tests-lte-advanced-five-band-carrier-aggregation-on-its-commercial-network-300413719.html

Converge. (2013). Samsung Galaxy S 4 Supports Sprint Spark Carrier Aggregation. December 11, 2013. https://www.convergedigest.com/2013/12/samsung-galaxy-s-4-supports-sprint.html

Converge. (2014). Nokia Tests 10 Channel TDD-FDD LTE Carrier Aggregation. June 11, 2014. https://www.convergedigest.com/2014/06/nokia-tests-10-channel-tdd-fdd-lte.html

Dano, M. (2011). AWS spectrum: The capacity savior for LTE? Dec 6, 2011. https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/aws-spectrum-capacity-savior-for-lte

Dano, M. (2016). T-Mobile testing three-channel carrier aggregation on LTE network. Jun 7, 2016. https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/t-mobile-testing-three-channel-carrier-aggregation-lte-network

De Vries, H., Bekkers, V., & Tummers, L. (2015). Innovation in the public sector: A systematic review and future research agenda. Public Administration Vol. 94, No. 1, 2016 (146-166). 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

DeGrasse, M. (2015). Qualcomm, Huawei, China Mobile verify three-component carrier aggregation. May 27, 2015. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20150527/chips/3-carrier-aggregation-qualcomm-huawei-china-mobile-verify-3cc-tag4

DeGrasse_2, M. (2015). Huawei demos small cell with LAA and Wi-Fi. July 28,2015. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20150728/network-infrastructure/lte/huawei-demos-laa-small-cell-tag4

EDN. (2012). Testing carrier aggregation in LTE-Advanced network infrastructure. June 20, 2012. https://www.edn.com/testing-carrier-aggregation-in-lte-advanced-network-infrastructure

Ericsson. (2015). Ericsson and Chine Mobile Hong Kong demonstrate FDD/TDD 3CC Carrier Aggregation in Live Converged LTE Network. Aug 03, 2015. https://www.ericsson.com/en/press-releases/2/2015/8/ericsson-and-china-mobile-hong-kong-demonstrate-fdd-tdd-3cc-carrier-aggregation

Gartenberg, C. (2018). Qualcomm’s new 2 Gbps LTE modem is an important step toward 5G. Feb 14, 2018. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/2/14/17009660/qualcomm-snapdragon-x24-lte-modem-2gbps-seven-carrier-aggregation-mwc

GlobeNewswire. (2020). Nokia achieves world-record 5G speed. May 19, 2020. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/05/19/2035667/0/en/Nokia-achieves-world-record-5G-speeds.htm

Goldstein, P. (2011). FCC approves AT&T’s $1.93B purchase of Qualcomm’s 700 MHz spectrum. Dec 23, 2011. https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/fcc-approves-at-t-s-1-93b-purchase-qualcomm-s-700-mhz-spectrum

Gomba, N. (2012). T-mobile forges ahead with network upgrade, begins LTE-Advanced trials. June 18, 2012. https://www.extremetech.com/electronics/131241-t-mobile-makes-great-progress-on-network-upgrade-begins-lte-trials

Gubta, D. (2016). Riding the 4G wave: Qualcomm India to supply carrier aggregation support technology. Feb 15, 2016. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/riding-the-4g-wave-qualcomm-india-to-supply-carrier-aggregation-support-technology/articleshow/50988219.cms

Hardesty, L. (2020). Qualcomm, Ericsson complete carrier aggregation tests across FDD/TDD. Aug 27, 2020. https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/qualcomm-ericsson-complete-carrier-aggregation-tests-across-fdd-tdd

Hill, K. (2013). CTIA 2013: Test and measurement advances with carrier aggregation, RAN virtual probes. May 22, 2013. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20130522/carriers/ctia-2013-test-measurement

Hill, K. (2014). Test and Measurement: Progress on 3-component-carrier aggregation. December 12, 2014. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20141212/test-and-measurement/test-and-measurement-news-progress-three-component-carrier-aggregation-tag6

Huo, Y., Dong, X., Xu, W., & Yuen, M. (2018). Cellular and WiFi Co-design for 5G User Equipment. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, Canada. National Mobile Communications Research Laboratory, Southern University Nanjing, China. Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. July 2018.

IEEE_Spectrum. (2019). Unlicensed Spectrum May Be Critical to 5G. Sep 05, 2019. https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/it/unlicensed-spectrum-may-be-critical-to-5g

Jones, D. (2018). T-Mobile to Test 5G ‘Dual-Connectivity’ With Vendors. Oct 18, 2018. https://www.lightreading.com/mobile/5g/t-mobile-to-test-5g-dual-connectivity-with-vendors/d/d-id/746930

Kinney, S. (2016). Analyst: Wi-Fi carries 80% of mobile data traffic. July 7, 2016. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20160707/network-infrastructure/wi-fi/analyst-wi-fi-carriers-80-mobile-data-tag17

Kinney, S. (2017). The key role of LAA in delivering gigabit LTE. August 4, 2017. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20170804/carriers/key-role-laa-gigabit-lte-tag17-tag99

Kinney, S. (2019). What’s next for 5G in unlicensed spectrum? April 3, 2019. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20190403/5g/5g-unlicensed-spectrum

Kinney, S. (2020). 3GPP finalizes Rel. 16 5G New Radio specifications. July 6, 2020. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20200706/5g/3gpp-finalizes-rel-16-5g-new-radio-specifications

Kinney_2, S. (2019). What is dual connectivity and why is it important for 5G? August 12,2019. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20190812/chips/dual-connectivity-5g

Klug, B. (2011). Clearwire Makes its LTE Advanced Plans Official. August 3, 2011. https://www.anandtech.com/show/4574/clearwire-makes-lte-advanced-plans-official

Korea. (2014). LG Uplus Completes World’s First LTE-A 3-band Carrier Aggregation Pilot Run. June 5, 2014. http://koreabizwire.com/lg-uplus-completes-worlds-first-lte-a- 3-band-carrier-aggregation-pilot-run/11446

Liu, C-N. (2016). Trend, Technology and Architecture of Small Cell in 5G Era. Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan.

Lu, X., Sopin, E., Petrov, V., Galinina, O., Moltchanov, D., Ageev, K., Anreev, S., Koucheryavy, Y., Samouylov, K., & Dohler, M. (2019). Integrated Use of Licensed- and Unlicensed-Band mmWave Radio Technology in 5G and Beyond. King’s College London. Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Tampere University of Technology.

Mallinson, K. (2014). LTE Advanced is bringing more than just carrier aggregation in 3GPP Release 12. Aug 18,2014. https://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/mallinson-lte-advanced-bringing-more-than-just-carrier-aggregation-3gpp-release-12

Marketing. (2018). SmarTone launches Hong Kong’s first LAA network. 31 August 2018. https://www.marketing-interactive.com/smartone-launches-hong-kongs-first-laa-network

McGlaun, S. (2014). Galaxy Note 4 with LTE Advanced Tri-Band Carrier aggregation launches. Dec 29, 2014. https://www.slashgear.com/galaxy-note-4-with-lte-advanced-tri-band-carrier-aggregation-launches-29360913

Meyer, D. (2016). Sprint 5G demo set for Philly as part of Copa América Centenario. June 14, 2016. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20160614/carriers/sprint-5g-demo-set-philly-part-copa-america-centenario-tag2

Middleton, J. (2013). SK Telecom uses Carrier Aggregation to push LTE speeds past 150 Mbps. September 05, 2013. https://telecoms.com/175892/sk-telecom-uses-carrier-aggregation-to-push-lte-speeds-past-150mbps

Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & PRISMA Group. (2009). Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Ann Intern Med. 151:264-269. 21 July 2009.

Nanjundappa, A., Singh, S., & Jain, G. (2018). Enhanced Multi-RAT Support for 5G. Network Division, Samsung R&D Institute, Bangalore.

Netmanias. (2013). LTE in Korea 2013. December 04, 2013. https://www.netmanias.com/en/post/reports/6060/c-ran-fronthaul-kt-korea-lg-u-lte-lte-a-sk-telecom-samsung-wideband-lte/lte-in-korea-2013

Nokia. (2015). Nokia Networks shows industry’s first TD-LTE-Advanced 3 carrier aggregation plus 256 QAM using commercial chipset. 9 December 2015. https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2015/12/09/nokia-networks-shows-industrys-first-td-lte-advanced-3-carrier-aggregation-plus-256-qam-using-commercial-chipset

Paolini, M. (2015). LTE unlicensed and Wi-Fi: Moving beyond coexistence. Senza Fili Consulting.

Parker, T. (2012). Qualcomm modem chipset to feature LTE Advanced, carrier aggregation. Feb 28, 2012. https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/qualcomm-modem-chipsets-to-feature-lte-advanced-carrier-aggregation

Pohlmann, T., & Blind, K. (2016). Landscaping study on Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). IPlytics GmbH. Technical University of Berlin.

RCRWirelessNews. (2017). License Assisted Access (LAA) puts gigabit LTE in reach for 90% of global operators. March 16, 2017. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20170316/network-infrastructure/lte/license-assisted-access-laa-puts-gigabit-lte-reach-90-global-operators

RCRWirelessNews_2. (2017). Samsung and Anritsu claim 1,2 Gbps with 6 carrier aggregation. 31 Jul, 2017. https://www.rcrwireless.com/20170731/devices/samsung-and-anritsu-claim-1-2-gbps-with-6-carrier-aggregation-tag4

Ricknäs, M. (2011). How to get past the limits of 4G wireless networks. Nov 8, 2011. https://www.infoworld.com/article/2621342/how-to-get-past-the-limits-of-4g-wireless-networks.html

Salem, M., & Maaref, A. (2016). A MAC Solution for Distributed Coordination of 5G LAA Operator Networks and Fair Coexistence with WLAN in Unlicensed Spectrum. Huawei Technologies Canada Co. Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.

Scales, I. (2015). Mashing up LTE and WiFi with Licensed Assisted Access. Jan 6, 2015. https://www.telecomtv.com/content/mobile/mashing-up-lte-and-wifi-with-licensed-assisted-access-12059

Suryanegara, M., & Asvial, M. (2018). The patterns of innovation agendas on 5G mobile technology. Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok, Depok 16424, Indonesia. August 2018.

Telecomlead. (2014). Nokia Networks adds RRH for 60 MHz carrier aggregation for LTE. September 3, 2014. https://www.telecomlead.com/telecom-equipment/nokia-networks-adds-rrh-for-60mhz-carrier-aggregation-for-lte-52745

Telecomlead. (2015). Nokia Networks, NTT DOCOMO to deploy 5G in 4.4 – 4.9 GHz. July 22, 2015. https://www.telecomlead.com/5g/nokia-networks-ntt-docomo-to-deploy-5g-in-4-4-4-9-ghz-59359

Telecomlead. (2016). MTS deploys FDD_TDD carrier aggregation technology. July 14, 2016. https://www.telecomlead.com/4g-lte/mts-deploys-fdd-tdd-carrier-aggregation-technology-69944

Telecomlead. (2018). Singtel achieves 1.5 Gbps speed using five-carrier aggregation. September 17, 2018. https://www.telecomlead.com/4g-lte/singtel-achieves-1-5-gbps-speed-using-five-carrier-aggregation-86411

Verizon. (2018). Verizon, Nokia and Qualcomm use LTE Advanced technology of six carrier aggregation to reach 1.45 Gbps. 27 Sep, 2018. https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-nokia-and-qualcomm-use-lte-advanced-technology-six-carrier-aggregation-reach-145-gbps

Wang, H., Rosa, C., & Pedersen K. (2013). Dedicated Carrier Deployment in Heterogeneous Networks with Inter-site Carrier Aggregation. Radio Access Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark. Nokia Siemens Networks – Research, Aalborg, Denmark. 2013.

Waring, J. (2015). SK Telecom, Nokia claim 600 Mb/s data rates. 25 Feb 2015. https://www.mobileworldlive.com/asia/asia-news/skt-nokia-demo-4x4-mimo-carrier-aggregation

Waring_2, J. (2015). China Telecom accelerates LTE carrier aggregation plans. 21 Sep 2015. https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/top-three/china-telecom-accelerates-lte-carrier-aggregation-plans

Xiao, Y., Han, Z., & DaSilva, L. A. (2016). Carrier Aggregation Between Operators in Next Generation Cellular Networks: A Stable Roommate Market. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS, VOL 15, NO. 1, January 2016.

ZDNet. (2017). Huawei attains 20Gbps in 5G dual-connectivity test. 20 Oct, 2017. https://www.zdnet.com/article/huawei-attains-20gbp s-in-5g-dual-connectivity-test

Downloads

Published

2022-08-12

How to Cite

Hussa, T. (2022). LTE Carrier Aggregation Deployment – From Standardization to Deployment. International Journal of Professional Business Review, 7(2), e0354. https://doi.org/10.26668/businessreview/2022.v7i2.354