T-Mobile US tests six-carrier aggregation

T-Mo trial reaches 3.6 Gbps speeds using 6CA in sub-6 GHz spectrum

T-Mobile US is laying claim to an industry first: Testing the aggregation of six component carriers in sub-6 GHz spectrum.

The carrier recently completed the testing, working in partnership with Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, in its live production 5G network. T-Mo said that they were able to achieve download speeds of 3.6 Gbps in sub-6 GHz spectrum.

The test involved aggregating two channels of 2.5 GHz, two channels of PCS spectrum and two channels of AWS spectrum, according to T-Mobile US, which produced an “effective 245 MHz of aggregated 5G channels.”!

“We are pushing the boundaries of wireless technology to offer our customers the best experience possible,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, president of technology at T-Mobile. “With the first and largest 5G standalone network in the country, T-Mobile is the only mobile provider serving 10s of millions of customers to unleash new capabilities like 5G carrier aggregation nationwide, and I am so incredibly proud of our team for leading the way.”  

T-Mobile US announced in May of 2023 that it was rolling out four component-carrier aggregation across its 5G Standalone network, which it said at the time can achieve peak speeds of 3.3 Gbps. In that case, T-Mobile US relies on two 2.5 GHz channels, one 1.9 GHz channel and one 600 MHz channel. The first device able to access 4CA capabilities was the Samsung Galaxy S23.

The carrier also touted its testing of five-component-carrier aggregation in sub-6 GHz spectrum at last year’s Mobile World Congress Barcelona. In that trial, working with Nokia and Qualcomm, T-Mo aggregated two FDD and three TDD carriers and achieved peak downlink throughput speeds that exceeded 4.2 Gbps.