Australian operators TPG Telecom and Telstra harmonised their spectrum holdings in the 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands, increasing mobile data rates in six cities by up to 20 per cent.
The project involved the defragmentation of spectrum to achieve contiguous holdings for each operator in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Darwin and Hobart.
TPG Telecom stated boosting the connections and reducing fragmentation delivers higher network data rates.
Barry Kezik, executive GM for TPG Telecom’s Mobile and Fixed Networks, said it observed a 10 per cent to 20 per cent improvement in mobile data speeds, without giving a specific rate.
He added this is an example of operators “constructively working together” to give customers improved services.
Kezik noted while contiguous spectrum is an industry objective, operators’ holdings are sometimes split into two or more fragments within a frequency band. “Successive spectrum allocations over a number of years has been a reason for this.”
For example, he said allocations in 2016 and 2017 made contiguity difficult to achieve automatically and required the additional step of harmonisation.
Source: https://www.mobileworldlive.com/asia/asia-news/tpg-telstra-harmonise-spectrum-to-boost-data-rates