Sprint this week gave a glimpse of what’s coming down the pipe.
On Tuesday, the carrier said it successfully used three-channel carrier aggregation to achieve speeds of 300 mbps on the new Samsung Galaxy S7. The figure represents a threefold increase over the 100 mbps speeds the company currently offers using two-channel carrier aggregation, Sprint said.
In its tests, Sprint said it used 60MHz of 2.5GHz spectrum in its Tuesday test in Reston, Va., 20 MHz more than the carrier currently uses for two-channel carrier aggregation. Sprint said it used the Samsung Galaxy S7 in its test because it is one of the first devices on the market that can support three-channel aggregation.
According to Sprint CTO John Saw, the carrier’s 2.5GHz spectrum excels at moving “high volumes of data at very fast speeds.” He said Sprint is “just getting started” with Tuesday’s test as it paves the way to 5G.
“With holdings of more than 160MHz of 2.5GHz spectrum in the top 100 U.S. markets, we have more capacity than any other carrier in the U.S.,” Saw said. “This is a tremendous advantage, allowing us to keep adding the capacity and speed needed to serve our customers’ demand for data now and well into the future. Two-channel carrier aggregation has already had a significant impact on our network performance and we’re excited to take it to the next level with Samsung.”
Sprint said it plans to test other three-channel compatible devices as they become available in preparation for the deployment of the technology as part of Sprint’s LTE Plus network.
But Sprint’s focus on its 2.5 GHz spectrum is nothing new.
Earlier this month Sprint CFO Tarek Robbiati said the carrier is looking to use its 2.5 GHz assets for a new 5G network. Robbiati said the network of the future will require a massive small cell buildout and said the company is looking to fund the deployment of small cells through an asset-backed lending program with a SoftBank subsidiary.
Filed Under: Infrastructure