NEW YORK � Verizon Communications has asked the FCC to extend the special temporary authority that has been allowing it conduct product development testing for LTE in unlicensed hardware and devices, according to rcrwireless.com.
Verizon�s STA for half a dozen sites was to expire on April 16. The commission received the request just the day before, and in it the company is requesting an extension until October while it continues to conduct �very small scale product development testing.�
LTE-U is the proprietary standard being developed through the LTE-U Forum which would enable the aggregation of LTE in the 5 GHz band with licensed cellular spectrum. �The potential impacts of LTE-U on Wi-Fi networks operating in the 5 GHz band led to the Wi-Fi Alliance leading a process to develop coexistence testing
Qualcomm performed LTE-U testing under STA with Verizon in early 2016 in Oklahoma City and Raleigh, N.C., and did similar testing with T-Mobile US. Qualcomm�s STA with Verizon expires in June 2017. The Verizon testing, as originally described by Qualcomm, covered fixed and mobile devices within about a one-mile radius of the sites and involved as many as 30 small cells and access points within the coverage footprint, according to the same article.
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