Ericsson and Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) continue to make headway in the Asia-Pacific region after the equipment manufacturers completed tests of advanced LTE services for Telstra and China Mobile respectively.
Sweden-based Ericsson teamed with Qualcomm to demonstrate what it described as the world's first inter-vendor interoperability tests of LTE Category 6 (CAT6) Carrier Aggregation on commercial LTE chipsets and infrastructure for Telstra. The duo achieved throughput of 300 Mbps during the test, which used a fourth generation Qualcomm Gobi 3G/LTE modem and load balancing software from Ericsson.
Håkan Eriksson, Ericsson CEO for Australia and New Zealand, said LTE CAT6 will accelerate adoption of LTE advanced, with "availability of commercial infrastructure and global chipsets for smartphones," a key factor in CAT6 deployments.
Serge Willenegger, vice president of product management at Qualcomm, said the collaboration with Ericsson highlights the company's goal to deliver "the fastest and most versatile mobile broadband experiences globally."
NSN, meanwhile, said it became the first of several China Mobile vendors to conduct a live video call and complete tests of VoLTE on the carrier's pre-commercial TD-LTE network in the city of Fuzhou.
The vendor completed the first TDD Enhanced Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (eSRVCC) video call early January, and completed a suite of tests designed to highlight the advantages of integrating voice services into LTE networks on 29 January.
"Implementing VoLTE is a definite competitive advantage for operators, enabling higher spectral efficiency and lower operational costs while placing them in a position to counter the offering from OTT players," Michael Clever, senior vice president of Core at NSN, explained.
Clever added that VoLTE will "bring sophisticated voice-based and video-based services and high-definition voice quality to mobile subscribers", and noted that video to voice handover "is a good example of how the new technology can be seamlessly integrated with the existing mobile broadband networks."
Asia Pacific is an increasingly important market for European vendors as domestic growth stagnates, and competition from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE increases.
Ericsson and NSN have each won TD-LTE rollout contracts with China Telecom and China Mobile, with NSN recently noting it is also in the running for a contract from China Unicom – the country's third mobile carrier. Alcatel-Lucent is also enjoying success in China, becoming one of three vendors picked by China Telecom to deploy TD- and FDD-LTE networks, and also being named as a TD-LTE supplier for China Mobile.
In December, Ericsson and NSN revealed LTE contract wins with Taiwan-based operator Chunghwa Telecom, which plans to complete network rollout during 2014.
NSN chief, Rajeev Suri, recently pledged to position China as a global innovation centre and cooperate with the country on technology innovation, during a meeting with Chinese vice premier Wang Yang in Beijing.
For more:
- see this Ericsson release
- see this NSN release
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