According to the Teleco website, by March 2023, more than 37% of the Brazilian population already has 5G coverage in the 3,500 MHz band. However, when we consider the number of municipalities covered, we realize that coverage is still at an early stage, with only 1.7% of municipalities reached and more than 98% of municipalities without coverage.
In this context, the functionality of 5G-NRCA (New Radio Carrier Aggregation), that is, aggregation of carriers in 5G, brought by MediaTek in all its 5G chipsets since the first one, will play a fundamental role not only in increasing speed, but also in helping carriers offer more comprehensive coverage to customers.
The idea behind the aggregation of carriers is simple: if a street is not enough to carry a certain flow of cars, it is possible to use another parallel street to increase the flow capacity of that flow, increasing the speed. In the analogy, the street represents the carrier, which is the frequency range used by the cellular operator to connect the device to the cellular network.
Each carrier has a capacity defined by the network and technology used, and the aggregation capacity refers to the joint use of more than one carrier of the same frequency or not to transmit data on the cellular network.
For example, in the 5G auction held in Brazil, operators acquired 100 MHz lots within Band N78 corresponding to the 3,500 MHz frequency band and 40 MHz or 50 MHz lots within Band N40 corresponding to the 2,300 MHz frequency band. . It is then possible to have carriers of the same Band N78 aggregated or even aggregation of carriers of Bands N78 and N40, multiplying the access speed of this device.
However, for a country of continental dimensions like Brazil, and with many municipalities and population to be covered, it is important to combine higher bands, such as N78 and N40, with lower bands, such as Band 28 at 700 MHz , Band 5 at 850 MHz and Band 8 at 900 MHz. It is important to highlight that the frequency of the band is inversely proportional to its coverage. That is, a 3500 MHz band has a high data transmission capacity but has a much smaller coverage than a 700 MHz band, which has a lower data transmission capacity but covers a much larger area.
By joining the two carriers, the one with the greatest coverage is intended only for device control traffic, exchanging essential information with the network and keeping it connected in 5G throughout the entirety of its coverage. The band with higher frequency and capacity makes data traffic more flexible, making it possible to continue high-speed data transmission in places where signal quality has already been degraded. Without carrier aggregation, in this signal degradation scenario, the device would have already been disconnected from the 5G network.
In tests carried out in Brazil in 2021, together with operators and network providers, there was an almost 65% increase in coverage using this feature. For Brazil, with its geographic and economic efficiency challenges, the aggregation of carriers becomes essential for consistent growth and significant gains in the quality of 5G services.
In summary, the 5G carrier aggregation technology brings several benefits to the expansion of the service in Brazil, especially in a country of continental dimensions like ours. In addition to increasing data transmission speed, carrier aggregation enables broader coverage, optimizes deployment cost and accelerates 5G deployment.
There is still a lot of work to be done so that 5G coverage reaches more Brazilians, but the aggregation of carriers is certainly an important step towards bringing this reality closer and closer.
