Achieving record speeds in uplink performance is all the rage these days. Now Ericsson and MediaTek say they set a new 5G upload record of 440 Mbps using uplink carrier aggregation (CA).
That uplink speed was achieved in an Ericsson lab. The test was performed with Ericsson’s Radio Access Network (RAN) Compute Baseband 6648 and a mobile device using a MediaTek Dimensity 9200 flagship 5G smartphone chipset.
Specifically, the CA combination involved here was 50 MHz FDD 2.1 GHz and 100 MHz of TDD C-band, or 3.7 GHz. Ericsson said that by aggregating these two bands, communications service providers can considerably increase their uplink speeds, resulting in better network performance and user experience.
Uplink speed is becoming more critical with the expected uptake of gaming, XR and video-based apps. By way of example, Ericsson notes that as AR devices gain popularity with larger augmentation objects, rendering becomes more demanding, thereby increasing the demand on networks to deliver higher throughput and lower latency.
”Super-fast uplink speeds make a big difference in the user experience. From lag-free live streaming, video conferencing and AR/VR apps, to more immersive gaming and extended reality (XR) technologies,” said Sibel Tombaz, head of Product Line 5G RAN at Ericsson, in a statement.
“The 440 Mbps upload speed achieved by Ericsson and MediaTek will help make that difference,” she added. “We are also continuously designing innovative solutions for optimizing 5G networks so our customers can make the best use of their spectrum assets.”
Earlier this year, AT&T boasted that it had completed what was believed to be the first 5G standalone (SA) uplink 2-carrier aggregation data connection in the U.S.
The connection was made at its Redmond, Washington, lab, where they achieved upload speeds of over 120 Mbps with a combination of 850 MHz and 3.7 GHz spectrum.
In May, T-Mobile reported reaching uplink speeds over 200 Mbps in a 5G data call using uplink CA; in that case, they used T-Mobile’s live commercial 5G SA network as opposed to a lab environment. T-Mobile used 2.5 GHz and 1.9 GHz bands.