Nokia Siemens Networks & Nokia are conducting LTE interoperability tests in 800 MHz Band. NSN announced successful testing of first end-to-end LTE data call with It's commercial equipment on the 800 MHz frequency band. 

The 800 MHz spectrum is popularly known as the Digital Dividend, becoming available as terrestrial TV moves from analog to digital broadcasting. This IOT is a big step forward towards the commercialization of LTE in this band, particularly hastening deployment in rural areas.

The longer range of the 800 MHz band allows operators to cover a given area with fewer sites, as compared to higher frequencies, which is particularly suitable for rural areas.

“These tests are part of a larger campaign which includes various customer trials and demonstrations to make LTE on 800 MHz commercially viable by this summer,” said Reino Tammela, head of LTE business line, Nokia Siemens Networks. 

The tests, conducted at Nokia Siemens Networks’ LTE Center of Competence in Espoo, Finland, follow the company’s commencement of production of LTE-ready Flexi Multiradio Base Stations for the 800 MHz band in April this year, and complement earlier tests with Nokia on the 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz bands.

The two companies demonstrated the end-to-end interoperability of Nokia Siemens Networks’ LTE network infrastructure with Nokia’s LTE-capable multi-mode multi-band Internet Modem RD-3. Infrastructure from Nokia Siemens Networks includes its Single RAN, featuring the Flexi Multiradio Base Station, the Evolved Packet Core comprising Flexi NS (Network Server) and Flexi NG (Network Gateway), and standard-compliant software.

“Right after the first Digital Dividend spectrum was assigned to operators in the spectrum auction in Germany in May, it was important that standard compliant LTE network products and LTE user devices for this band become commercially available. This will enable successful rapid LTE network rollouts allowing end users to experience high speed and high quality mobile broadband services in rural areas with a large variety of terminals,” further adds Reino Tammela.