O2 Telefonica Germany – in association with Nokia — has aggregated sub-6 GHz spectrum frequencies in an industry-first two-component carrier uplink Carrier Aggregation (CA) trial on 5G Standalone.
Nokia has previously demonstrated four component carrier downlink 5G Carrier Aggregation, as well as uplink Carrier Aggregation on millimeter wave spectrum. Together with O2 Telefonica Germany, Nokia is the first to combine sub-6 GHz spectrum to boost uplink throughput.

Carrier Aggregation enables operators to maximize their spectrum assets to reach higher throughputs and enhance the 5G experience for subscribers. Carrier Aggregation will improve the performance of 5G by delivering improved UL network usability at the cell edge with higher reliability and lower latency.

Mobile operators will be able to enable new industrial use cases for verticals such as the automotive industry and live broadcasts of events and virtual reality experiences for consumers and enterprises, paving the way for the metaverse.

The trial took place at O2 Telefonica’s Innovation Cluster near Berlin and utilized O2 Telefonica’s live commercial network. Nokia provided solutions from its AirScale portfolio including Baseband, massive MIMO, and RRH products, powered by its Reefshark chipset.

MediaTek provided its 5G mobile platform using the MediaTek Release-16 M80 modem integrated into the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 flagship chipset. The companies used the combination of a 20 MHz carrier on the 1800 MHz band (n3) and a 70 MHz carrier on the 3.6 GHz band (n78) using Carrier Aggregation technology to achieve a peak throughput of 144 Mbps.

JS Pan, General Manager, Wireless Communication Technology at MediaTek, said: “The combination of spectrum frequencies utilizing Carrier Aggregation delivers premium coverage and capacity to mobile subscribers. Our new 5G mobile platforms utilizing the M80 modem are fundamental to delivering this achievement.”

Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Information Officer at O2 Telefonica, said: “With frequency bundling, we will enable our customers to enjoy faster downloads and uploads in our 5G network in the future.”

Mark Atkinson, SVP, Radio Access Networks at Nokia, said: “Carrier Aggregation software complements our high-performance AirScale portfolio, placing Nokia at the forefront of providing technologies that support mobile operators in maximizing radio network efficiencies.”