Carrier aggregation will allow operators to combine as many as five Release-8 compatible carriers, thereby enhancing the data rates delivered to the end user without the need for contiguous frequency band allocations. So far this solution is limited to providing bandwidths with a maximum range of 100MHz, although this limit has only been imposed by foreseeable demand. Higher bandwidths could be easily supported, according to vendors. As with many network technologies, the benefits deliverable by carrier aggre gation are restrained by the number of users in a cell. With high numbers of users the benefits are likely to be marginal, but if the number of users is low, then a large amount of bandwidth can be allocated to each one. There are also limits to carrier aggregation in the uplink, as devices will lack the power necessary to enable multi-carrier transmission.
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