KT, China Mobile unveil world’s first LTE roaming

Korean consumers will be able to enjoy faster communication services abroad, not only in Japan but also in China as KT Corp., one of the country’s leading mobile carriers, has launched Long Term Evolution cross-border roaming services in joint efforts with China Mobile.

KT said Thursday that the company and China Mobile, China’s biggest mobile operator, have jointly commercialized their data roaming services by integrating their LTE networks ― the first time two countries have done so.

KT, which uses LTE-Frequency Division Duplex, and China Mobile, using LTE Time Division Duplex, made their 4G networks compatible.

The two partners introduced their new LTE roaming services at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

“The world’s first LTE roaming in Korea and China by both sides has boosted KT to offer world-class and advanced roaming services,” a KT official said.

“We will continue to provide differentiated services by further expanding ties with China Mobile and NTT DoCoMo.”

KT’s latest offering comes after the Korean telecommunication giant launched cross-border LTE roaming services with NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile carrier, last year.

LTE-FDD, a common LTE standard used in Korea and Japan, needs a pair of spectrum bands for data uplink and downlink. LTE-TDD, which is mostly used in China, only needs a single channel to transmit and download data.

The three wireless titans established partnerships in January 2011 to begin developing cross-border services, such as e-payment and global roaming, for their combined 900 million subscribers.

They extended their strategic ties last year in line with plans to accelerate the development of roaming services by interconnecting their LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD networks.

The so-called cooperation framework will continue until January 2017, NTT DoCoMo said in a statement.

KT said that it would also offer roaming services with France-based telecom operator Orange S.A. in Spain and France.

The Korean telecom company now provides LTE roaming services in 15 countries, it noted.

KT also recently announced with the National Police Agency that it plans to export its IT security system to Angola.

This marks KT’s first inroads into southwestern African country, where the telecom company’s solutions are to be combined with Korea’s police command and control systems in an aim to help improve the country’s security infrastructure.

The Korean police will further support the Angolan police authority by providing it with administrative and operational know-how on smart security systems.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)