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Orange expands 220Mbps tests in Spain with LTE-Advanced network in Valencia

Orange has announced it's planning to build a small LTE-A test network in the Spanish city, after earlier tests delivered download speeds of 220Mbps.
Written by Jo Best, Contributor

The momentum for LTE-Advanced, the higher speed successor to the current generation of 4G network technology, is building across Europe.

Orange has become the latest operator on the continent to announce a trial of LTE-Advanced, also known as LTE-A. Orange has begun testing the tech in the Spanish city of Valencia.

The technology uses carrier aggregation to boost download speeds: according to Orange, by bringing together 20MHz of spectrum in the 2.6GHz band and 10MHz in the 1.8GHz band, the pilots have seen mobile terminals getting speeds of 222Mbps. Theoretically, LTE-A can bring download speeds of up to 300Mbps.

With initial tests now in the bag, Orange is adding six more nodes to set up a small network in the centre of the city.

Orange is not the only operator that's been piloting LTE-A in Spain. Vodafone began testing the tech late last year, where it saw "sustained" speeds of more than 280Mbps during the trial, while top speeds reached 297Mbps.

This year has seen a number of European mobile networks begin LTE-A field tests or wider pilots.  Vodafone's Dutch and Italian arms, Bouygues Telecom in France, and Base in Belgium have all begun experimenting with LTE-A.

Commercial launches from the carriers are expected at the end of this year or early 2015.

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