Lebanon Touch and Huawei Jointly Conduct the World’s First LTE FDD 800MHz/1800MHz CA Field Trial

Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, and Touch, Lebanon’s leading mobile telecommunications company, announced the successful completion of a field trial of LTE FDD 800MHz/1800MHz carrier aggregation (CA) technology on Touch’s live network. The field trial achieved a maximum of 250 Mb/s download throughput, reaching almost the highest speeds ever recorded.

CA technology includes intra-band and inter-band CA, and is an essential technology for LTE-Advanced. The field trial on Touch’s network is the first global application of the inter-band CA on 800MHz and 1800MHz. Compared with intra-band CA, inter-band CA is more advanced and provides more flexible usage of spectrum resources. While 800MHz and 1800MHz become major frequency resources for LTE, the successful CA test on these two bands marks a significant achievement for CA technology commercialization.

"Touch is the first mobile operator in the world to use this technology over the 800MHz and 1800MHz bandwidths placing the company firmly as a world player and a leader in telecommunications, and driving Lebanon to the forefront of innovation in the ICT sector" said Wael Ayoub, CEO, Touch.

Elias El Hachem, Huawei General Manager, Lebanon said "this technological achievement will pave the way towards additional local applications and developments which in turn will be positively reflected in the local economy. Huawei is committed to maximizing economic and long term social benefits through ICT and is very proud to be one of the main 3G/4G suppliers in this country."

Nicolas Sehnaoui, Lebanon Telecom Minister, said during the field trial "I definitely feel proud of what Touch has accomplished with Huawei. This presentation reflects a positive and vivid image of our country, positioning it on the world map of innovation once again. Huawei is one of the leading multinational companies specialized in telecom and has decided to venture into the Lebanese market and live this experience with us. Together we have witnessed the development of LTE-Advanced which will eventually reach a speed of 250 Mb/s compared to a traditional speed of 100 to 150 Mb/s. We pledge to the Lebanese more advancements, and we aim to transform Lebanon into a regional platform specialized in ICT and a hub for a digital economy."

By January 2013, Huawei had deployed 73 commercial LTE networks worldwide representing a near 39% global market share. Huawei LTE has been recognized for deploying the world’s largest GSM/LTE 1800MHz network, the world’s first LTE DD800MHz commercial network in Germany, the world’s largest coverage LTE network in Russia, and the world’s first SingleRAN WiMAX/LTE network in Saudi Arabia.