Singtel and Ericsson have achieved a peak speed of 1.1 Gbps in a joint trial of a new configuration of Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) technology. Conducted in a Singtel laboratory, the trial delivered speeds that breached the 1 Gbps barrier by combining several key LTE technologies including 256 QAM, 4x4 MIMO, and aggregating two licensed and three unlicensed spectrum bands on a TM500 Test System device.  

The unique 12-layered LAA configuration used in the trial will provide 2 to 3 times faster than prevailing peak LTE speeds, resulting in enhanced user experience, especially in high traffic indoor environments such as shopping malls.  Following this successful trial, Singtel will explore the feasibility to deploy the technology on Singtel’s network.  

Earlier this year, high download speeds of up to 800Mbps were achieved on Singtel’s high-performance LTE network by deploying 256 QAM downlink, 4x4 MIMO and triple carrier aggregation techniques. In October 2017, the partners jointly established a 5G Centre of Excellence to facilitate 5G development in Singapore.