EE claims 5G world-first with advanced RAN coordination | Computer Weekly

"EE claims to be the first mobile operator globally to use ARC in its distributed mobile network. It has been able to roll out inter-site 5G downlink carrier aggregation in its distributed RAN to combine spare capacity from multiple independent cell sites, and is said to have had the result of increasing downlink data performance by approximately 20% on average, more than doubling performance under ideal conditions."

"The operator believes the deployment represents smarter infrastructure, not just more equipment. Indeed, it notedthat instead of installing new radio equipment, it was using a small optical pluggable device in each baseband unit to enable this capacity sharing. The software-driven approach is said to allow it to scale performance efficiently, keeping infrastructure costs low while delivering high-impact results for customers where it's needed most."

"The technology is further enabled by EE's parent BT Group's fibre infrastructure, which connects cell sites, regarded as crucial for enabling real-time coordination between sites - with less than a half a millisecond delay - and which is needed to unlock the full benefits of 5G carrier aggregation. Initially trialled in Bristol, the technology has already gone live on EE's network in major cities including Manchester and Edinburgh to deliver faster"

EE deployed Ericsson's advanced radio access network coordination (ARC) to enable inter-site 5G downlink carrier aggregation across its distributed RAN. Nearby cell sites can remotely pair and share spare capacity, improving performance, particularly at busy locations and peak times, without new masts. The rollout increased average downlink performance by about 20% and can more than double throughput under ideal conditions. The deployment uses small optical pluggable devices in baseband units and software-driven coordination to scale performance cost-efficiently. BT Group’s fibre links provide sub-half-millisecond latency for real-time coordination. Trials began in Bristol and are live in major UK cities.

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