T-Mobile US asserted it is the first mobile operator in the world to hit 550Mb/s uplink speeds in sub-6GHz spectrum using 5G-Advanced Release 17 capabilities.
The mobile operator explained it achieved the record speed using 3GPP Release 17 UL Tx Switching in a live demonstration with partners Nokia and MediaTek. T-Mobile stated it is the world’s first live demo of R17 UL Tx Switching. The testing took place in the US state of Washington on a commercial site.
Ulf Ewaldsson, president of technology at T-Mobile, stated “uplink is the next big thing” due greater adoption of applications and services such as 4K video, gaming in real time and using a VR headset.
Tommi Uitto, president of mobile networks at Nokia, noted it is “significantly more challenging for carriers to enhance data speeds in the uplink, from a mobile device back to the network, compared to boosting downlink speeds”.
T-Mobile explained the UL Tx Switching feature provides “smart” multiplexing to maximise user throughput on the available device transmitter chains by optimising use of UL carrier aggregation and UL MIMO for TDD and FDD spectrum.
In the first live network demonstration, 100MHz of TDD spectrum and 35MHz of FDD spectrum were used to achieve the speed. It was conducted using a MediaTek smartphone test device along with the vendor’s M90 modem.
The operator announced the nationwide availability of its 5G-Advanced network during a Q1 earnings call last month.