Nokia claims LTE/wifi aggregation will deliver 400 Mbps

Nokia has announced an LTE-A/wifi aggregation solution which it claims will combine frequencies to deliver up to 400 Mbps.

Continuing in its quest for the snappiest possible title for its products, Nokia’s latest offering is reliant on the TD-LTE-A Pro LTE-Wi-Fi Aggregation (LWA) feature on the Nokia Flexi Multiradio 10 base stations. This feature allows for LTE and wifi networks to be aggregated, essentially creating the possibility of delivering up to 400 Mbps download speeds.

The technology, named Nokia FastMile, is intended to extend 4G signals in high-frequency spectrum, and the aggregation of TD-LTE and wifi can help to bring connectivity to residential customers in rural or suburban areas where general signal delivery is weak.

Aggregating LTE and wifi is a relatively new concept which looks to use wifi-routers and other signal boosting technology as a means of strengthening wireless connectivity alongside LTE. Nokia says it offers simple residential devices to provide higher capacity by utilising advanced antenna topology and interference mitigation technologies. It also then claims WiMAX or fixed operators will be able to deliver cost-effective fixed broadband services using TD-LTE.

“As global subscriber data demand continues to rise, Nokia is committed to developing technologies that will help operators efficiently unlock the potential of their 4G networks, enabling greater connectivity while reducing the cost of ownership of running those networks as well as power consumption,” said Tero Peltola, Nokia’s Head of LTE Business Line. “Initiatives such as FastMile for TD-LTE will let operators improve connectivity to those who are currently unconnected and change people’s lives for the better.”

Nokia is demonstrating the solution at MWC Shanghai this week, and says it will be showing off the industry’s first distributed beamforming technology to help operators triple the download and upload capacity of a group of small cells served by a single baseband unit, which it calls a Nokia TD-LTE-A Supercell.