Singtel, Singapore largest mobile operator, said it completed a trial of pre-standard licence assisted access (LAA) technology using 20MHz of licensed 1.8GHz spectrum and 20MHz in the unlicensed 5GHz band.

The stationary live test, using Ericson’s indoor small cells, achieved a throughput of 275Mb/s, while a second test showed LAA’s ability to co-exist with Wi-Fi signals without impacting the Wi-Fi user experience.

Singtel said extensive tests cases were conducted to demonstrate extended coverage and increased network capacity as well as seamless mobility with “opportunistic aggregation” of unlicensed spectrum.

Nearly 85 per cent of mobile traffic is generated indoors in Singapore, according to Ericsson ConsumerLab. Singtel estimates that extensive LAA implementation will potentially provide additional network capacity to help it cope with rising data traffic, particularly video streaming.

With the successful LAA trial, the service will be progressively deployed over the next two years, Singtel said.

LTE-U is a mobile technology that uses unlicensed spectrum to boost LTE data speeds. LAA specifically comes with the added functionality known as ‘listen-before-talk’ to ensure co-existence with other Wi-Fi devices on the same unlicensed spectrum.

Indonesia’s XL Axiata announced last November it was working with Ericsson to trial LTE-Advanced LAA technology.