Sprint to Go Gigabit Crazy at MWC!
Sprint will go gigabit LTE crazy at this year's Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona next week.
The US carrier is doing Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) smart antenna array demonstrations with both Ericsson AB and Nokia Corp.
The operator is hoping to show off "Gigabit Class LTE" speeds. Ericsson specifically says that it will demonstrate 1 Gbit/s 4G LTE in 60MHz of 2.5GHz spectrum. Ericsson is using 4x4 MIMO and three bonded channels of 2.5GHz radio to boost the speeds.
Nokia says it will show off Massive MIMO using commercial equipment with Sprint (See Sprint to Be 1st in US With Massive MIMO? and So What Is 4.9G Anyway?)
The context behind Sprint's gigabit push is likely related to its access to spectrum. Unlike the other three major US operators, Sprint doesn't yet have access to any 28GHz or 39GHz to develop early 5G customer trials. What it does have is 160MHz of 2.5GHz spectrum that it can use to ramp 4G LTE to peak speeds that could even hit 3 Gbit/s peaks in 2018.
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
