Telecom network vendor Ericsson today announced License Assisted Access (LAA) small cells that can assist smartphone users to access both licensed and unlicensed spectrum.
Ericsson License Assisted Access will be available in its small cell portfolio starting in fourth quarter 2015. It enables carrier aggregation of licensed with unlicensed bands to effectively address growth in indoor data traffic.
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Ericsson said LAA, an LTE-Advanced technology, can improve mobile data speeds, reduce congestion and better customer satisfaction. A recent Ericsson ConsumerLab study said that only 41 percent are highly satisfied with their indoor experience when browsing or accessing social networks.
T-Mobile US Chief Technical Officer Neville Ray said: “There’s 550 MHz of underutilized spectrum in the 5 GHz Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII) band. It will use LAA to develop to provide customers with superior network performance.”
Using 4 percent of the 5 GHz band, LAA can provide up to a 150 Mbps speed increase to smartphone users. Each additional 4 percent of available spectrum used will increase the smartphone data speed further.
Ericsson LAA also incorporates fair sharing within the 5 GHz band, to accommodate traditional Wi-Fi users. Fair sharing works on the principle that Wi-Fi and LAA users would have equal access to the spectrum.
In a statement, Ericsson said it is adding LAA to its indoor small cell portfolio including the Ericsson Radio Dot System for medium and large buildings and the Ericsson RBS 6402 Indoor Picocell for smaller buildings under 50,000 square feet.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
