Australian operator Telstra has achieved download speeds of up to 149.4 Mbps as part of LTE trial with Huawei. Trials were conducted using the 1800MHz spectrum in Melbourne over the last six months, reports ZDNet. 

The peak 149.4 Mbps DL speed was reached in a lab environment trial using 20MHz of spectrum. Peak speed of 59 Mbps reached in UL.

Telstra started LTE trials in the 1800MHz spectrum with Huawei in July. The 1800MHz evaluation was planned to include tests of throughput using MIMO antenna configurations as well as several features including Inter Cell Interference Coordination to reduce radio network interference and improve throughput, and Self Organising Networks.

Globally, 1800MHz spectrum is used for 2G GSM services and is part of the LTE standards. As operators move to deploy LTE networks, it is expected that this spectrum will complement 2600MHz spectrum and the 700MHz band anticipated to be made available through the digital dividend.