Optus and Ericsson claim world-first 5G SA 180MHz aggregation on live network

Optus and Ericsson said on Wednesday they had completed what they describe as a world-first 5G standalone trial that aggregates 180MHz across the 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz mid-band spectrum on Optus's live commercial network. Peak downlink speeds reached 3.4 Gbps using off-the-shelf Samsung handsets.

Total downlink bandwidth in the trial reached 220MHz, stitched from four spectrum bands. Optus's holdings at 900MHz and 2.1GHz were combined with the 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz mid-band in a four-component carrier configuration. Uplink ran at 200 Mbps, drawing on the lower-band frequency division duplex pair plus the two time division duplex mid-bands.

The 180MHz figure is the load-bearing claim. Optus and Ericsson say no other operator has aggregated that volume of TDD spectrum across 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz on a live network using commercial handsets.

Sri Amirthalingam, Optus chief technology officer, said the result moved 5G from a lab benchmark to a customer benefit. "This achievement demonstrates how we are translating cutting-edge 5G technology into meaningful benefits for customers in real-world environments," he said.

Ludvig Landgren, head of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, said the trial reflected what the two companies had been building toward since they first demonstrated 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz aggregation in non-standalone mode in 2020. "Optus continues to demonstrate strong leadership in adopting advanced 5G capabilities, and this milestone highlights the strength of our partnership," he said.

Why mid-band aggregation matters

The 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz bands sit in what the industry calls the mid-band sweet spot. They balance coverage and capacity. Millimetre-wave spectrum runs faster but only across very short distances. Sub-1GHz bands travel further but carry less data per cell.

Optus is one of the few operators globally with substantial holdings across both 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz. The carrier has run 5G standalone, the version of the technology that does not lean on a 4G core, on its commercial network since August 2022. In May 2022 it claimed a separate world-first three-component carrier aggregation 5G SA data call with Nokia.

Wednesday's result applies the standalone architecture to the broader four-component setup. Devices that lock onto all four bands at once see the combined pipe rather than a single channel. That is what allows the 3.4 Gbps headline figure on a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra in the trial.

What customers will see

Two effects flow from the trial. Mobile users on supported handsets will get higher peak speeds in coverage areas where Optus has deployed across all four bands. The carrier already supports the configuration on the Samsung Galaxy S24 series and later devices, including the S26 Ultra used in the trial.

The bigger structural payoff sits in fixed wireless. Optus and Ericsson said the aggregated mid-band spectrum will lift its 5G Fixed Wireless Access service, the home internet product that competes with NBN Co HFC and FTTP plans, and which now sits alongside Telstra's recently launched capped 5G home internet plans. More usable bandwidth at a given site means more households can run on a single cell without service degradation during peak hours.

Vodafone, owned by TPG Telecom, sits behind Optus and Telstra in the Australian 5G rankings and has spent the past year stepping up marketing pressure on both rivals. Telstra has the larger aggregate spectrum portfolio nationally. The Optus 2.3GHz holding remains the differentiator at mid-band.

Spectrum and standards

The configuration relies on 3GPP Release 17 features for 5G SA carrier aggregation. ACMA, the Australian regulator, allocated Optus its 3.5GHz holdings through the 2018 mid-band auction and the 2.3GHz spectrum through prior assignments. No fresh regulatory approval was required for the trial, which ran on existing licensed spectrum.

Ericsson Australia and New Zealand has supplied Optus's 5G core and radio equipment under a long-running contract. The vendor was also Optus's partner for the 2020 non-standalone carrier aggregation demonstration that preceded this week's standalone result.

What happens next

Optus has not set a date for rolling the four-component aggregation out to live customer traffic at scale. The carrier said only that the configuration is supported on mainstream devices already on its network. Optus is expected to move from trial to commercial deployment over the second half of 2026, in line with how it handled the 2022 5G SA launch.

The next milestone for the partnership is expected to be 5G Advanced features, which sit on top of standalone and bring AI-driven radio resource management. Ericsson has been positioning 5G Advanced as the bridge to 6G, with formal standards expected in 2028.