T-Mobile US requested permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to test new LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) equipment on its AWS and PCS spectrum; moves which could give users on its mid-band airwaves a boost.
The operator said in an application it will team up with several vendors including Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to conduct testing at two different locations in Augusta, Georgia from 23 April until 24 October. It noted it will use FCC-certified base stations from Nokia and Ericsson, and up to 36 certified and prototype mobile devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, for the trials.
T-Mobile didn’t specify what LTE-A features it plans to test, but said the trial would allow it to evaluate “new products outside of a lab environment, but in a controlled and managed manner”.
The application comes as T-Mobile continues to roll out mid-band spectrum in cities across the US. In March, T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray (pictured) revealed the operator added PCS and AWS capacity to more than 400 cities, including sites in Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
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