BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SK Telecom
(NYSE:SKM) today announced that successfully tested LTE-Advanced
(LTE-A) five-band carrier aggregation (CA)* on its commercial
network
*SK Telecom's bandwidth
resources as of February 2017: 10MHz
bandwidth in the 800MHz band, 20MHz bandwidth in the 1.8GHz band,
10MHz bandwidth in the 2.1GHz band, 10MHz + 20 MHz bandwidths in
the 2.6Ghz band
Since June 1, 2016, SK Telecom has
been providing 500Mbps LTE-A Pro service by applying 256 QAM
technology to its tri-band LTE-A CA network. Also, the company has
acquired additional spectrum in the 2.6GHz band in May 2017, securing the basis for LTE-A five-band
CA.
In addition, SK Telecom has successfully demonstrated the
application of MIMO to its tri-band CA network, thereby securing
the capability to provide 900Mbps data speeds.
With the application of 4X4 MIMO - a technology that doubles the
transmission speed - to a 20MHz bandwidth of a frequency band,
users will be able to download data at maximum rate of 400Mbps per
frequency band.
SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics are demonstrating this LTE-A
Pro technology at Samsung booth during the MWC period, and plan to
commercialize it within the first half of 2017.
"Through the demonstration of LTE-A Pro with SK Telecom, we have
proven that it is not long before we realize the commercialization
of 1Gbps mobile communication, a dream speed in LTE," said
Park Dong-soo, Executive Vice
President of the Network Business at Samsung Electronics. "We will
lead the advancement of mobile technologies toward the very last
stage of LTE evolution and secure a bridgehead into the 5G
era."
Meanwhile, SK Telecom also announced that it, together with
Ericsson, successfully demonstrated Licensed Assisted Access (LAA),
the technology that uses unlicensed spectrum together with licensed
spectrum for 4G LTE radio communication. By aggregating 80MHz
in licensed and unlicensed spectrum and applying 4X4 MIMO
technology, peak data rates of 1Gbps is achievable. The two
companies are demonstrating the technology at Ericsson booth during
MWC 2017.
Per Narvinger, Head of Product Area Network Systems at Ericsson
said, "With LAA, subscribers will be able to enjoy an even better
LTE experience as unlicensed spectrum is used to boost data speeds.
The LTE and Wi-Fi users will coexist in a fair way in the
unlicensed bands and end users will benefit in indoor as well as
outdoor environments."
"With continued advancement of UHD video and virtual reality
technology, there is growing a need for faster mobile
telecommunications services," said Park
Jin-hyo, Senior Vice President and Head of Network
Technology R&D Center of SK Telecom. "SK Telecom will pursue
ceaseless innovations in not only 5G, but also in LTE-A Pro so as
to provide our customers with the world's best mobile
experience."
About SK Telecom
Established in 1984, SK Telecom is the largest mobile operator
in Korea by both revenue and number of subscribers. As of
December 2016, the company holds
around 50 percent of the market, with 29.60 million mobile
subscribers including 21.1 million LTE subscribers. It has reached
KRW 17.092 trillion in revenue in
2016.
SK Telecom has led the advancement of mobile technologies
ranging from 2G to 4G, and is currently setting important
milestones in its journey to 5G. The company is not only leading
innovation in the field of mobile network, but also providing IoT,
media, home and platform services.
SK Telecom is determined to play a significant role in the
Fourth Industrial Revolution by achieving innovations and promoting
shared growth with other players in the industry.
For more information, please
visit www.sktelecom.com/en or
contact skt_press@sk.com.
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SOURCE SK Telecom