SmarTone launches Hong Kong’s first LAA network

Leading telecommunications company SmarTone has launched Hong Kong's first live commercial License Assisted Access (LAA) network, after obtaining the relevant service license from the Office of the Communications Authority.The network supports blazing 1Gbps download speed using aggregate licensed and unlicensed LTE carriers with five-component channel carrier aggregation (5CC carrier aggregation) , 4x4 multiple-input--multiple-output (4x4 MIMO), and 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).By deploying small cells that support LAA and build on LTE-Advanced features, SmarTone network provides customers with higher speeds and greater capacity, while LTE LAA is another key milestone on the road to 5G.The company has completed the installation of LAA small cells in Central, Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok and Shatin, and will be extending to even more locations.“This new network deployment demonstrates our technology leadership and innovation to bring our customers an unparalleled mobile experience with increased speed and capacity. As a leading operator in Hong Kong, we will continue to embrace disruptive technology, using our stable and reliable network as the backbone to lay the ground for enhanced network performance on path towards 5G,”concluded Stephen Chau, CTO of SmarTone.