Korean mobile service provider SK Telecom will launch commercial tri-band LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) service on December 29.
The world’s first tri-band LTE-A service offers data speeds of up to 300Mbps by aggregating three component carriers in three different frequency bands: 20MHz bandwidth in 1.8GHz band, 10MHz bandwidth in 800MHz band, and 10MHz bandwidth in 2.1GHz band.
SK Telecom, which has over 16.3 million LTE and LTE-Advanced subscribers as of October2014, said the service is four times faster than LTE and 21 times faster than 3G service. At its peak speed, Tri-band LTE-A service allows users to download a 1GB movie in 28 seconds.
The Korean telecom operator developed the tri-band LTE-A CA technology in January 2014 and demonstrated the 450Mbps tri-band LTE-A by binding three 20MHz bands at the Mobile World Congress 2014 in February 2014.
The company has already secured Wideband LTE-A coverage in main areas of 84 cities and can offer tri-band LTE-A service by adding 2.1GHz base stations. SK Telecom plans to build more than 26,000 2.1GHz base stations during the first quarter of 2015 in Seoul/ Seoul Metropolitan Area, central areas of all cities as well as all subway lines in Korea.
SK Telecom customers can use Galaxy Note 4 S-LTE, the first tri-band LTE-A capable device, to access tri-band LTE-A in Korea.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
