Vodafone Turkey and Huawei jointly complete world's first live GL spectrum sharing with overlapping carriers’ trial on commercial 900 MHz networks

[Istanbul, Turkey, Apr. 20th, 2017] Recently Vodafone Turkey and Huawei completed the world first verification of the GL spectrum sharing solution on Vodafone's commercial 900 MHz networks in Diyarbakir city of Turkey. This innovative solution – developed as part of a collaboration on spectrum sharing capabilities between Huawei Mobile Innovation Centre and Vodafone Networks CoE (Center of Excellence) – enables spectrum sharing between GSM and LTE with unprecedented overlap between the two technologies, which increases both LTE data rate and cell capacity available in the 900 MHz spectrum allocation from Vodafone Turkey. Compared to LTE 5MHz, the average user throughput is increased by nearly 58% on downlink and 44% on uplink.

Vodafone Turkey launched 4.5G for commercial use on April 1, 2016. With the largest 4.5G coverage in Turkey the operator currently serves over 8 million LTE users. As more and more users migrate to LTE, how to effectively allocate spectrum resources to handle increasing LTE data traffic is a priority for Vodafone Turkey. GL spectrum sharing solution adopts Huawei-proprietary algorithms to free operators from the restrictions of standard LTE bandwidth. This solution ensures that scattered spectrum resources are fully utilized for higher data rate and better user experience. By introducing more flexibility in terms of the Resource Block allocation and spectrum allocation effectively used by LTE this allows to maintain sufficient GSM channels to carry the 2G CS traffic. The test cases show that GL spectrum sharing allows for an approximately 58% increase in average downlink user throughput, and a 44% increase average uplink user throughput, compared with LTE 5MHz bandwidth.

Mallik Rao, CTO of Vodafone Turkey spoke highly of the GL spectrum sharing solution. He remarked,

"Frequency spectrum resources are extremely valuable. Spectrum allocation is fixed in the traditional refarming solution, which results in low utilization rate. In comparison, GL spectrum sharing supports more efficient spectrum sharing between GSM and LTE. That has helped to boost spectral efficiency and improve the overall experience of 4G users in Diyarbakir. I am very pleased with the favorable results, and highly anticipate the solution's expedited deployment on the entire network."

Cao Ming, President of Huawei's FDD Product Line said,

"GL spectrum sharing is an innovative solution exclusive to Huawei. We are glad to verify this solution on commercial networks in partnership with Vodafone Turkey. Huawei is dedicated to offering technical innovations to secure customers' business success. The GL spectrum sharing solution not only increases spectral efficiency, but also promises operators a smooth transition to LTE."