Telstra claims world first with 450Mbps LTE

Telstra is claiming a world first by demonstrating speeds of 450Mbps over LTE on its mobile network.

The speeds were reached in trials of combined 1800MHz and 2600MHz bands with LTE Advanced carrier aggregation..

The speed is three times faster than Telstra's current peak network speed – 150Mbps. Or, as the carrier publicised, 8,000 times faster than speeds first experienced with 56K dial up.

Telstra worked with Ericsson to aggregate each of Telstra's 20MHz bandwidths on its 1800MHz and 2600MHz spectrum bands as part of the installation of equipment for two new 4G frequency division duplexing channels.

This resulted in three simultaneous side-by-side paths for data to travel to their operational core network.

To achieve the speeds, an advanced prototype Cat 9 engineering device capable of combining the three channels was also used.

Group managing director for Telstra networks, Mike Wright commented: "Conducting this type of test is a significant step in the network engineering and development process.

"It is essential for us to see how this type of technology works in the live network and understand what needs to be done to continue to absorb the exploding demand in mobile broadband and offer an exceptional customer experience."

The telco eventually expects to combine one block each of their 1800MHz, APT700MHz and 2600MHz spectrum.

"[W]e are future proofing our network and planning to manage effectively the ever increasing demand for mobile data so that we continue to give our customers access to Australia’s best mobile network," said Wright.