Orange and Ericsson are reporting a successful trial of FDD carrier aggregation using the 3.4-3.6 GHz (3.5 GHz) frequencies. 

The live LTE-Advanced FDD trial was authorized by the French regulator ARCEP and was carried out from October through November of this year on Orange’s network in Bordeaux using Ericsson’s pre-commercial equipment.

The first phase of the trial was performed at the Orange Labs in Paris.

The companies said the trial managed to hit speeds of 300 Mbps using the 3.5 GHz band in aggregation with the 2.6 GHz band. Ericsson and Orange assert that the test confirm the potential of 3.5 GHz FDD technology to increase mobile broadband capacity. 

The second phase if the tests was carried out on Orange’s live mobile network and was based on Ericsson’s pre-commercial FDD 3.5 GHz radio base station equipment.

“This live FDD trial demonstrated that the 3.5 GHz band can be successfully used in urban and suburban environments in stand-alone mode or in aggregation with another band to provide advanced mobile broadband services using a FDD access scheme for high peak data rate applications to enhance user experience,” said Alain Maloberti, SVP of Orange Labs Networks.

In a statement, the companies said that perhaps most promising is the confirmation that the existing network grid can be reused for a 3.5 GHz macro grid. In Bordeaux, the trials used the same grid as for the 1800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands.