The company responsible for building Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), nbn, has broken the gigabit per second data speed barrier during a recent fixed wireless trial.
The company achieved the speeds using the 2.3Ghz and 3.4Ghz mobile spectrum, which it uses to connect customers not hooked up to a fixed network.
The company hit speeds of 1.1Gbps download and 165Mbps upload using carrier aggregation technology that fused seven carriers in the 3.4GHz spectrum band and four carriers in the 2.3GHz spectrum band.
As part of the demonstration, nbn also delivered trial peak speeds of 400Mbps/55Mbps, 250Mbps/50Mbps and 100/40Mbps, all delivered using a range of carriers in the 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz spectrum bands.
The 1.1Gbps speed was achieved by bonding together three next generation Wireless Network Termination Devices (WNTDs) – the antennae located on the roof of a nearby school - while the other speeds were all achieved via a single WNTD.
The high speed trial was conducted with nbn's fixed wireless technology partner, Ericsson, along with NetComm Wireless and Qualcomm, while the speed tests were conducted with technology from Mill Software.
In order to conduct the trial, nbn used a spare operating sector on an established NBN fixed wireless tower and installed additional radio equipment.
The company has committed to delivering its 100Mbps service over fixed wireless by 2018 to serve the regional business market.
The trial follows the rollout of Optus’ 4.5G mobile network in Macquarie Park, as well as 4.5G and 5G trials by Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, which have achieved gigabit speeds. However, this is the first such trial to be conducted in a regional centre.
