Dish, in partnership with Samsung and Qualcomm, has achieved simultaneous 5G 2x uplink and 4x downlink carrier aggregation (CA) for FDD spectrum.
The partners attained a 200 Mbps uplink peak speed with a mere 35 MHz of 5G spectrum. Additionally, the Dish 5G network demonstrated extraordinary downlink peak speeds of 1.3 Gbps – utilising only 75 MHz of 5G spectrum – across FDD bands n71, n70, and n66.
These achievements, which signify world-firsts, were made possible through Dish’s Open RAN cloud-native 5G network.
The demand for increased uplink capacity has surged by 300 percent, primarily due to the growing usage of uplink-heavy applications such as social media posting, video conferencing, and video uploads.
With this successful carrier aggregation for FDD spectrum, the partners have paved the way for Boost Mobile and Boost Infinite subscribers to experience significantly enhanced download and upload speeds.
Eben Albertyn, EVP and CTO at Dish, said: “By successfully delivering 5G 2x uplink and 4x downlink carrier aggregation for FDD spectrum, Dish is now poised to deliver a better customer experience across our 5G standalone network.”
Albertyn highlighted that Dish’s 5G Open RAN network now covers over 73 percent of the US population with 5G broadband coverage, reaching more than 100 million Americans with 5G voice service.
This milestone was achieved through rigorous testing both in Dish labs and in real-world scenarios utilising a mobile phone form-factor test device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF System and Samsung’s 5G vRAN solution; along with dual- and tri-band radios deployed across the Dish 5G network.
Mark Louison, Executive VP and GM of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics America, commented: “It’s been a pleasure to work closely with Dish Wireless and support their expanding cloud-native Open RAN virtualised network as 5G services are now live across several markets, clearing the path for even lower latency and faster speeds.
“We are committed to pushing the boundaries to advance network capabilities to meet growing consumer demands for our customers.”
Sunil Patil, VP of Product Management at Qualcomm, added: “We look forward to continued collaborative efforts with industry partners such as Dish and Samsung to enable faster 5G around the world.
“As consumers demand increases for uplink heavy applications, carrier aggregation on FDD spectrum is crucial to bring faster upload speeds to more consumers across markets and networks.”
With this successful feat, users are a step closer to the unparalleled connectivity experiences that 5G promises.
See also: GSMA: Smartphone ownership surpasses 50% yet digital divide persists
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