5G Carrier-Aggregation January 2022
Hot Topic Paper: Gigabit+ 5G
Global Status Report – Executive Summary
Introduction
The end of 2021 saw the world pass the milestone of 200 launched public 5G networks, and the industry is already evolving. After the successful launch of 5G networks based on non-standalone architectures, many operators are now investing in and deploying 5G standalone infrastructure. In addition, they are looking to emulate the success of carrier aggregation (CA) in LTE networks, by introducing carrier aggregation technology to increase the throughput of the 5G services they can provide to their customers. LTE-Advanced brought Gigabit LTE networks to customers; operators are expecting carrier aggregation will deliver Gigabit+ 5G networks. 5G carrier aggregation also has the potential to increase cell coverage for 5G deployments.
5G network speeds
At this stage in the evolution of their 5G networks, with few operators yet actively using 5G NR CA for their commercial services, it is interesting to look at what operators are promising in terms of maximum speeds for their 5G customers. GSA has analysed data for maximum stated DL throughput promoted by operators, for their commercial 5G services. The results are shown in Figures 1 and 2 below for mobile and fixed-wireless access networks, respectively.
For 5G mobile networks, the maximum DL throughput being marketed to customers by the sample group ranges from 100 Mbps to 4.26 Gbps, with the mean of the marketed speeds being 1.116 Gbps. Operators are promoting higher speeds for their 5G mobile networks than for their 5G FWA networks. Gigabit speeds or better are being promoted by 38 of the 54 5G mobile networks for which GSA has data (just over 70% of them).
Maximum Downlink
For 5G FWA networks, the maximum DL throughput being marketed to customers by the sample group ranges from 50 Mbps to 4.2 Gbps, with the mean of the marketed speeds being 716 Mbps. Gigabit speeds or higher are being promoted by 19 of the 53 operators for which GSA has data (nearly 36% of them).
Of course, promised speeds do not tell the whole story. The real-world experience is important too. Recent data from Opensignal, published in its article Benchmarking the Global 5G Experience — November 2021 showed that actual download speeds for 5G are, in some networks, quite impressive. According to OpenSignal the peak download speeds of the top 15 networks – based on billions of daily measurements it collects from devices globally – range from 580 Mbps to 934.9 Mbps, while the average download speeds in the 15 fastest 5G networks range from 189 Mbps to 423.8 Mbps. The fastest upload speeds in 5G networks ranged from 26.1 Mbps to 41.9 Mbps.
5G Carrier-Aggregation January 2022
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