Ericsson and Australian operator Optus completed what the pair dubbed a world-first trial using 5G standalone (SA) carrier aggregation technology.

The demo combined 180-megahertz of time division duplex (TDD) spectrum from a pair of channels across Optus' 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum bands with a combined 40-megahertz of frequency division duplex (FCC) spectrum across the 900 MHz and 2.1 GHz band to produce a peak downlink speed of 3.4 Gb/s. It then combined a singled TDD channel with one FDD band to support a peak downlink speed of 200 Mb/s.

The test was conducted in a live network site using commercial devices.

The firms claimed that by dynamically combining low-band and mid-band spectrum, Optus can better allocate network resources in real time, ensuring stable, high-quality connectivity in high-traffic environments such as transport hubs and stadium-based events, and for supporting data-intensive applications and services such as large downloads and high-resolution video streaming.

“Through our ongoing collaboration with Ericsson, we are unlocking greater capacity and performance across our 5G network, enabling faster speeds and more reliable connectivity," Optus CTO Sri Amirthalingam noted. "This milestone marks an important step in our network evolution toward 5G-Advanced, reinforcing our commitment to remain at the forefront of innovation and to deliver tangible value for our customers.”

Optus launched its 5G network in 2019 with Ericsson. Recent years have seen it partner with Ericsson rival Nokia to upgrade regional areas of Australia. That union saw Optus deploy Nokia's Habrok massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) radios and Levante baseband solutions.

Ericsson was recently tapped to modernize and expand SoftBank’s core networks, as well as accelerate the Japanese giant’s 5G SA adoption. Expanding on a previous 5G SA deal centered around its radio access network (RAN) products, Ericsson is providing SoftBank with its Core Networks’ portfolio, including a dual-mode 5G Core solution running on Ericsson’s Cloud Native Infrastructure Solution (CNIS).