Press Release

Seoul, Korea February 24, 2014

NSN, KT, SKT achieve world's first TDD-FDD carrier aggregation demonstration

Innovation will allow operators to improve LTE mobile broadband speed and boost
TD-LTE coverage by 50-100%
Uses TDD, FDD spectrum optimally to save costs for operators

Nokia Solutions and Networks today announced its successful demonstration of the
worlds first TDD-FDD carrier aggregation together with Korean operators, Korea
Telecom (KT) and SK Telecom (SKT). The demonstration was carried out separately
with the two operators, using NSNs Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station. This
breakthrough is a boon for operators and LTE mobile broadband subscribers as it will
enable significantly improved network capacity, high-capacity coverage and speed.
It gives us immense satisfaction to achieve the worlds first TDD-FDD carrier aggregation,
and we are actively pursuing the 3GPP standardization of the technology, said Qi Zhang,
vice president of TD-LTE at NSN. We have been working hard with the leading Korean
operators, KT and SKT, and this demonstration is yet further proof of our thought leadership
in the commercialization of LTE technology for wider adoption.
Based on the success of this demonstration, KT will continue developing leading
technologies for the global TDD market, said Seong-Mok Oh, senior executive vice
president and head of Network Group at KT. We are keen to continue our successful
partnership and technical collaboration with NSN to apply TDD-FDD carrier aggregation
technology to commercial networks. This will further advance the quality of our LTE network
and help us stand out from the competition.
The significance of TDD-FDD carrier aggregation is that it provides the technical basis for
faster and more efficient data services, combining TD-LTE technology which is becoming
more and more widely adopted with FDD-LTE used in most networks today, said Jin-hyo
Park, senior vice president, head of network technology R&D center at SK Telecom.
Building on our world-class competitive edge in the field of LTE-Advanced, SK Telecom will
strive to maintain global leadership in both TDD and TDD-FDD convergence technologies.
Operators worldwide need to increase their network capacity to address the growing LTE
subscriber base and demand for improved coverage and speed. And more importantly, they
need to do so without investing in additional hardware. By aggregating spectrum resources
on multiple frequency bands of TD-LTE and FDD LTE, NSN helps operators increase
throughput by 50-100%, depending on the level of availability of TDD or FDD spectrum.
With carrier aggregation, operators can, for example, combine their low-frequency FDD
bands such as 850 MHz and 900 MHz with high-frequency TDD bands such as 2300 MHz
and 2600 MHz in order to provide high-speed mobile broadband in large areas. Highfrequency bands are typically uplink limited and have less coverage. In the case of TDD-FDD
carrier aggregation, however, operators can improve their high-frequency band TD-LTE
coverage by 50-100% using TDD for downlink only and using the lower-frequency FDD for

NSN
Media Relations
PO Box 1
FI-02022 Nokia Solutions and Networks
2014 Nokia Solutions and Networks. All rights reserved.

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uplink as well as downlink. This increase in TD-LTE coverage thus provides a larger highcapacity LTE coverage area.
In addition, TDD-FDD carrier aggregation allows load balancing between TD-LTE and FDD
LTE networks. This ensures seamless mobile broadband coverage and optimal speed for all
subscribers of TD-LTE and FDD LTE networks, and optimizes the utilization of both bands
for a quick return on investment for operators.
For more information on NSNs mobile broadband capabilities, including a video overview,
follow this link. To share your thoughts on the topic, join the discussion with @NSNtweets on
Twitter using #mobilebroadband and #LTE. For expert insights, visit our blog.

About NSN
Nokia Solutions and Networks is the worlds specialist in mobile broadband. From the first
ever call on GSM, to the first call on LTE, we operate at the forefront of each generation of
mobile technology. Our global experts invent the new capabilities our customers need in their
networks. We provide the worlds most efficient mobile networks, the intelligence to maximize
the value of those networks, and the services to make it all work seamlessly.
With headquarters in Espoo, Finland, we operate in over 120 countries and had net sales of
approximately 11.3 billion euros in 2013. NSN is wholly owned by Nokia Corporation.
www.nsn.com

Media Enquiries
NSN
Cordia So
External Communications, Asia Pacific
Phone: +852 9747 5873
E-mail: cordia.so@nsn.com
Media Relations
Phone: +358 7140 02869
E-mail: mediarelations@nsn.com

NSN
Media Relations
PO Box 1
FI-02022 Nokia Solutions and Networks
2014 Nokia Solutions and Networks. All rights reserved.

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