SK Telecom is going to start providing speed of 500Mbps in June and has announced its vision of achieving 1Gbps with only LTE through 5-Band CA (Carrier Aggregation) that combines 5 frequencies in 2018. It is also planning to establish a network where more than 90% of population in 85 cities can receive service by end of 2018 through 2.6GHz bandwidth, which was given to SK Telecom through an auction for frequency.
SK Telecom announced its strategies that will enhance its network in the future at a press forum that was recently held. First of all it will provide speed of 500Mbps starting from next month by applying 3-Band CA and 256 QAM technology. It will use total of 50MHz range from 2.1GHz 20MHz range (based on downloads), 1.8GHz 20MHz range, and 800MHz 10MHz range.
Although speed that can be produced through only frequency is 375Mbps, 256 QAM technology, which is supported by new Smartphones such as Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, G5 and others, helps boost speed up to 500Mbps. Starting with Pusan, Ulsan, and Daegu, SK Telecom is going to eventually expand towards all parts of South Korea in August.
SK Telecom announced its plans of how it is going to use 2.6GHz that it won through auction. SK Telecom secured 30MHz range (based on downloads) from 2.6GHz and now has widest range out of 3 mobile telecommunication businesses at 70MHz range. Its range is wider by 20MHz (50MHz for its competitors) and has prepared bases for 5-Band CA.
SK Telecom is going to start establishing 2.6GHz network with Seoul and other metropolitan cities at the center, and have a network that will cover 85 cities with 90,000 base stations by end of 2019. It is going to provide service to Seoul and 6 metropolitan cities by end of this year, 85 major cities by end of 2017, and most of population (more than 90%) in those 85 cities by end of 2018.
If this network is established, SK Telecom can provide a speed up to 525Mbps by combining current 800Mhz, 1.8Ghz, and two bandwidths of 2.1GHz and 2.6GHz (10MHz and 20MHz respectively) with CA technology. Although a time frame of supporting 5-Band CA will be different depending on SW of manufacturers’ base stations, 5-Band CA will be supported by 2018 at the latest.
It is planning to provide speed of 1Gbps with just LTE by applying 256 QAM technology and 4x4 MIMO technology that uses 4 antennas. This will allow one to download a HD movie (1.7GB) in just 13 seconds.
If Multi-Pass TCP technology, which engrafts Wi-Fi and LTE, is also applied besides LTE, wireless speed that surpasses wired speed will be possible. SK Telecom is predicting that 2.7Gbps wireless service will be possible with 5-Band CA and Multi-Pass TCP technologies after 2018. “Since auction for frequency is finished, we are going to make sure that quality of our service will be greatly improved by quickly establishing a new network.” said Department Head Choi Seung-won of SK Telecom’s Infra Strategy Headquarters.
Staff Reporter An, Hochun | hcan@etnews.com
