ress>Once commercially deployed, the solution will enhance the experience of Optus’s customers with superior speeds and performance and pave the way for advanced 5G use cases such as augmented reality and virtual reality. Nokia has prioritised the development of 5G Carrer Aggregation (CA) technology across sub-6 GHz 5G spectrum.

Nokia used its latest commercial AirScale Baseband and radio portfolio powered by its Reefshark chipset over Optus’s commercial network. The trial combined the FDD, or frequency division multiplexing, band (2,100MHz) with the TDD (time division duplexing) band (2,300MHz + 3,500MHz) using CA technology.

5G Carrier Aggregation allows compatible 5G smartphones to receive multiple 5G frequency bands in parallel. This enables higher data rates, increased coverage, and superior network capacity while maximising the spectral efficiency of 5G networks. By combining spectrum from different frequency bands, providers can make optimal use of their 5G spectrum, enhancing coverage and network capacity, providing higher data rates, increased coverage, and superior indoor performance.

As Dr Robert Joyce, Chief Technology Officer at Nokia Oceania explains: “Nokia is delighted to bring our market-leading 5G technology to Australia to deliver yet another 5G world first with Optus. This market-leading 5G network enhancement provided by Nokia will allow Optus to continue to deliver superior network performance to its customers.”

Says Lambo Kanagaratnam, Vice President of Networks at Optus: “We’re always looking at ways that we can further optimise our network performance to benefit our customers. Once available commercially, this 3 NR Carrier operation will enable customers to achieve a higher 5G download speed at more places improving their overall 5G experience. Our Samsung Galaxy S22 customers will soon be the first to benefit from this technology enhancement with other handsets to follow shortly after.”