SmarTone has conducted trial of Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) technology in a live over-the-air demonstration in Hong Kong.

Ericsson, the technology partner of SmarTone, said LAA allows the use of unlicensed spectrum in the 5GHz band in combination with licensed spectrum. SmarTone’s subscribers can expect better mobile broadband experience with more capacity and faster speeds. Telecom operators such as SmarTone make use unlicensed spectrum resources.

SmarTone used one LTE 10MHz band aggregated with three 20MHz bands of unlicensed spectrum for the trial.

During the trial, SmarTone used 4CC carrier aggregation, 4×4 MIMO and 256QAM technologies. The trial used a Qualcomm SnapdragonTM X16 LTE mobile test device and Ericsson’s micro Radio 2205 for LAA.

Ericsson’s micro Radio 2205 for LAA is designed for unlicensed spectrum use and provides small dimensions, flexible mounting and superior performance.  Future enhancement of LAA includes 5CC carrier aggregation support in 2018, and allows the download speeds to exceed 1Gbps.

“LAA is an important technological evolution that can combine licensed and unlicensed spectrum to provide LTE service. It will be widely adopted in the US and European markets in the near future,” said Stephen Chau, chief technology officer of SmarTone.

Petra Schirren, president of Ericsson Hong Kong and Macau, was instrumental in working with SmarTone for the LAA trial in Hong Kong.

“Through the introduction of advanced technologies, such as LAA, we enable Gigabit Class LTE on the road to 5G,” Petra Schirren said.