- 580 Megabit per second peak speed achieved on a live LTE network environment
- Combination of LTE Advanced 4x4 MIMO and Carrier Aggregation delivers best-in-class user experience in most spectrally efficient way
- DT drives LTE Advanced innovation in the industry by enhancing peak data rates more than three times compared to existing LTE networks
Deutsche Telekom demonstrated today 580 Megabits per second over-the-air on its live LTE network in Germany. This was achieved in the world’s first successful introduction of LTE-A 4x4MIMO with carrier aggregation. 600 Megabits per second peak experience is the theoretical maximum in this technology combination.
DT is constantly improving its networks taking into consideration the incremental demands of mobile customers. The demonstration on the commercial DT LTE network in Alzey, Germany, was based on regular network infrastructure and a unique UE antenna in smartphone size design provided by a partner. With this demo, DT is moving closer to the demands of the Gigabit Society. Carrier Aggregation is an important technology in the LTE standard for bundling two carriers to provide higher peak rates rather than additional capacity. Higher Order MIMO is another technology in the LTE standard that improves network performance in terms of coverage, spectral efficiency and throughput. All commercial LTE deployments up to now are based on MIMO 2x2. In previous trials, DTAG has demonstrated that additional gains could be achieved with MIMO 4x4, which involves the simultaneous transmission of four data streams at the same frequency between the equivalent number of antennas at the transmitter and receiver sides. Although the integration of the 4x4 MIMO concept to a device with smart-phone size is a significant challenge DT is proving with this demo that this challenge can be faced succesfully. It should be noted that the entire demonstration is based on 3GPP standardized solutions. The superior LTE-A 4x4 MIMO performance gain was achieved in this demo with a unique antenna solution with four integrated antenna in a smartphone size. "It is important to develop and demonstrate cutting-edge technology today in order to meet the increased user demands in terms of user experience and overall capacity in the most efficient way," says Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, Chief Technology Officer, Deutsche Telekom. "We already offer our customers the best-in-class mobile network quality today and we want to make sure that we develop and improve our networks to meet the future needs of our customers." "The results of this demo are an important milestone in the introduction of LTE Advanced technology," adds Jacobfeuerborn. "As innovation leaders in LTE Advanced, we will continue to work with our partners in the industry to develop this technology into a commercial terminal for our customers."
About Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with 140 million mobile customers, over 31 million fixed-network lines and more than 17 million broadband lines (as of September 30, 2013). The Group provides fixed network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has 230,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 58.2 billion in the 2012 financial year - more than half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2012).