A Survey of Licensed Assisted Access Implementation in Indonesia

Abstract

Nowadays, users of cellular are increasing rapidly, proven by an internet network that is accessed mostly through mobile broadband usage. Wireless mobile broadband technology uses limited resources, namely the frequency spectrum. It is an interesting problem because the frequency spectrum regulates by government, so the allocation is restricted. Not requiring a longer time, the licensed frequency for mobile broadband is becoming increasingly full and facing a problem, namely spectrum scarcity. 3GPP saw this opportunity by launching LTE-Advanced Pro (4.9 G) technology through 3GPP Release-13, namely Licensed Assisted Access (LAA). LAA uses carrier aggregation technology between the licensed band and unlicensed band of 5 GHz. The 5 GHz frequency allocation is for ISM needs. LAA aims to increase network capacity, increase efficiency, and increase downlink speed. Several countries in the world already deploy LAA. However, many countries are still doing a trial of LAA technology, including Indonesia. Indonesia represents one of the largest countries in the world, and the number of a mobile broadband user is one of the largest with the rapid growth of mobile user. Thus LAA deployment in Indonesia is required to face spectrum scarcity. This work is intended to examine the technology and the regulation and market readiness of LAA implementation, especially in Indonesia. In this paper, we do study briefly about LAA implementation in several countries based on their frequency regulation requirement, market, and how the technical challenge goes on. Thus LAA implementation in Indonesia could be considered based on existing conditions above.