SK Telecom launches world’s first tri-band LTE-A service

SK Telecom said Sunday that it had commercialized a tri-band Long Term Evolution-Advanced service for the first time ever, as part of efforts to develop fifth-generation telecommunications networks.

The tri-band LTE-A service will enable users to download a 1-gigabyte movie in 28 seconds at a speed of 300 megabits per second, which is four times faster than existing fourth-generation LTE, and 21 times faster than the third-generation service, South Korea’s largest mobile carrier noted.

This follows the successful demonstration of the tri-band LTE-A by SK Telecom and its partners Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies last October after developing the technology in January. 

The tri-band LTE-A enables faster data transfer and communication as it aggregates three different frequency bands of 20, 10 and 10 megahertz into one spectrum.

“With the successful commercialization of tri-band LTE-A, SK Telecom not only secures an important edge in LTE-A four-band carrier aggregation, but also moves a step closer to realizing the 5G service,” SK Telecom said in a press statement.

Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics said Sunday that it had launched the Galaxy Note 4 S-LTE running on tri-band LTE-A service.

Subscribers of SK Telecom will be able to enjoy the service for the same price as the existing LTE, the telecom giant said.

“With the launch of the world’s first tri-band LTE-A service, we will not only provide our customers with unprecedented network speeds, but also offer differentiated and diverse mobile value-added services that meet customers’ needs and interests,” said Lee Jong-bong, executive vice president and head of SK Telecom’s network division.

Meanwhile, KT, Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier, said it would launch a trial service of its tri-band LTE-A X4 for consumers to experience a data download speed of 300 Mbps.

LG Uplus, Korea’s smallest carrier, said it would launch its tri-band carrier aggregation service next month with LG Electronics’ new mobile device.

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