Turkcell tests Huawei’s LTE Spectrum coordination solution

turkcell-managed-servicesHuawei said Turkcell has completed the world’s first LTE Spectrum coordination on Antalya’s 4.5G network with Huawei’s latest eRAN13.1 solution.

The China based telecom equipment maker said LTE spectrum coordination solution, one of the most important technologies of the TechCity 2.0 project in Turkey, enables coordination between high and low LTE bands to realize channel selection based on a user’s experience and maximize user throughput.

This latest telecom technology lifts the binding dependency between the uplink and downlink channels, addressing limited uplink coverage on high bands. Huawei said the test on Turkcell network shows that the downlink data rate increased by over 30 percent at cell edges.

Challenges in the deployment of high frequency bands are huge. These challenges include dip in uplink coverage in comparison to downlink coverage due to the inherent characteristics of these bands and limited transmit power of terminal devices. Failure of high bands will result into poor cell-edge user experience.

Huawei says LTE Spectrum Coordination can effectively improve user experience at the cell edges. In this test, the downlink channel is always hosted by both high and low bands, while a UE can select either high or low bands as a suitable uplink channel to obtain a high data rate and an excellent experience.

A UE located in the center of the cell selects high bands as an uplink channel, whereas a UE located at the edge of the cell selects low bands for better uplink coverage. This solution effectively improves cell-edge user experience.

In 2017, Turkcell and Huawei worked together to launch TechCity 2. that aims to innovate in technologies and build future-oriented networks.

“High bands provide high data rates, while low bands deliver excellent coverage. LTE Spectrum Coordination can fully leverage these characteristics, and can to the largest extent enhance spectral efficiency and improve user experience, especially for user experience at the cell edge,” said Gediz Sezgin, CNO of Turkcell.

Ying Weimin, president of R&D Management Department of Huawei Wireless Network Product Line, said LTE Spectrum Coordination is one of the key technologies of Huawei’s CloudAIR solution.

Turkcell posted 25.7 percent revenue growth with an EBITDA margin of 35.5 percent in Q3 2017. Group net income quadrupled to TRY601 million.

Turkcell became the first mobile operator in Turkey to support NB IoT. It launched NB IoT technology throughout its nationwide 4.5G footprint.

Turkcell also conducted a live test of the locally-manufactured antenna of a 4.5G base station on its existing network.

Turkcell has partnered with Siemens to offer digital service solutions in the field of energy efficiency. This partnership aims to develop digital service solutions for consumer and corporate segments alike for remote monitoring and control, to regulate energy consumption and increase efficiency, thereby decreasing energy costs.