Telecom services provider Ericsson has demonstrated the latest in LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology, ‘LTE Advanced’, over the air in a mobile environment in Sweden.

The Stockholm-based company demonstrated the technology to the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). The demonstration, held in Kista, Sweden, featured speeds more than 10 times faster than those currently experienced by LTE consumers in Sweden, said Ericsson.

The company added that the system, based on commercial hardware, was operating on a test frequency provided by the PTS. Ericsson demonstrated LTE Advanced functionality such as carrier aggregation of 3 x 20MHz (60MHz aggregated) over the air in a mobile environment for the first time.

The new technology is based on commercial hardware compliant with 3GPP Release 10 and the commercial operation is expected to start in 2013.

The demonstration was based on Ericsson’s multi-mode, multi-standard radio base station, RBS 6000.

Live traffic was streamed between the RBS and a moving van from which network performance could be monitored, said the company.

In the demonstration, 60MHz of aggregated bandwidth was used, compared to the 20MHz maximum that is currently possible using LTE. In the downlink, 8×8 MIMO was used.

Swedish regulator PTS Head of Spectrum Department Urban Landmark said the demonstration indicates that mobile broadband technologies continue to evolve rapidly.

Recently, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) selected LTE Advanced as one of the technologies that fulfils International Mobile Telecommunication’s criteria.

Ericsson vice-president Ulf Ewaldsson said the company encourages all regulators to allocate harmonised spectrum as early as possible.

Ewaldsson added, "The next step of LTE enhances the current service offering, performance and data speed even further. It provides operators with the opportunity to capitalise further on their existing infrastructure. Once again, Ericsson is committed to supporting operators’ needs as expectations and requirements for mobile broadband services increase."