Sprint on Friday said a recent lab test of three-channel carrier aggregation on the HTC 10 hit peak speeds of 295 mbps.
The test comes as the company continues trials of the technology in preparation for the deployment of its tri-band LTE Plus network.
According to statements from Sprint CTO John Saw during the carrier’s second quarter earnings call, Sprint has already launched two-carrier aggregation using 40 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum in 237 markets across the country. The operator is “progressing very quickly” to three-carrier aggregation, which will use 60 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum, he said.
Sprint currently holds more than 160 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum in the top 100 U.S. markets, Sprint executives have said, leaving plenty of room for the expansion.
Earlier this year, Sprint’s tests of three-channel carrier aggregation on the Samsung Galaxy S7 achieved peak speeds of 300 mbps, representing a three-fold increase over the 100 mbps speeds the company currently offers using two-channel carrier aggregation.
More generally, Sprint said three-channel carrier aggregation will offer peak speeds of over 200 mbps on compatible devices.
The carrier said five devices in its lineup – the HTC 10, HTC 9, LG G5, Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge – already offer three-channel carrier aggregation capabilities. Sprint is planning to announce three more three-channel carrier aggregation devices in the near future, Saw said. Sprint’s selection also includes 22 devices that support two-channel carrier aggregation.
And these devices could mean big performance boosts down the line for Sprint customers as the network roll out continues.
Though upgrades at Sprint stood at just 5.4 percent in the second quarter, Saw said approximately 74 percent of postpaid handset sales in the period were carrier aggregation capable.
“Two-channel carrier aggregation has made a significant difference for our customers in LTE Plus markets across the country and that’s just the beginning,” Saw said in a Friday statement. “We have more capacity than any other carrier in the U.S. Our customers and those switching to Sprint can be confident in our ability to meet their demand for data now and well into the future.”
Filed Under: Infrastructure
