A generation where one can download a 1GB movie with a Smartphone in just 16 seconds has just opened. SK Telecom has commercialized world’s fastest LTE speed at 500Mbps. It is predicted that a competition for faster speed will be launched once more as KT and LG Uplus are also planning to provide same type of service within frequencies that were recently allocated to them.
SK Telecom is going to start its 500Mbps service in Yeongnam region including Busan, Ulsan, and Daegu on the 1st and is going to use 2.1GHz 20MHz bandwidth, 1.8GHz 20MHz bandwidth, and 800MHz 10MHz bandwidth based on downloads. Out of 3 South Korean mobile telecommunication businesses, SK Telecom has become the first one to start 5x (375Mbps) LTE service that uses 2 broadband. By applying 256QAM, which increases speed by 33%, to these broadband, SK Telecom was able to complete 500Mbps service.
On the first day of service, SK Telecom’s speed was measured by Galaxy S7 Edge and G5 in Seomyeon region in Busan. Wireless internet measuring applications by NIA (National Information Society Agency) and Benchbee were used at the same time. Total of 5 measurements were made per device and application.
In result, average speed was between 420 and 430Mbps and fastest speed was measured at 453.74Mbps. Actual measuring speed is affected by radio signals and number of people that connect at the same time. Considering that actual measuring speed is theoretically 10 to 20% lower than fastest speed, these values are acceptable results.

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<SK Telecom has commercialized 500Mbps service, which is the fastest speed in the world, on the 1st. SK Telecom's employees are measuring actual speed in Seomyeon in Busan.>

“Because 256QCM is going to be used in all frequencies and services in the future, basic speed is also going to be increased that much.” said a representative for SK Telecom’s Busan Network Headquarters. “As network becomes more optimized in the future, customers will feel better quality as time goes by.”
500Mbps is 25% times faster than 400Mbps, which is current fastest speed of LTE. SK Telecom is going to expand its service towards major regions in South Korea such as metropolitan areas starting from August. As speed of 400Mbps or higher is implemented in real life, there will be more users that will feel actual increase in speed.
Competition between mobile telecommunication businesses in improving quality of their services will also become fiercer. KT and LG Uplus will start LTE-based 500Mbps service that is 5 times faster in end of this year. Although there are some differences in CA (Carrier Aggregation) method as they use 4-Band and 3-Band respectively, frequency cap based on download is same at 50MHz.
Their services will not stop here as LG Uplus recently finished developing 4x4 MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) technology that uses 4 antennas. Speed will be 2 times faster than 2x2 MIMO and speed of 800 to 900Mbps will be possible when supporting devices are released.
SK Telecom actively utilizes more frequency caps (20MHz based on download) than its competitors. It is planning to provide 1Gbps service in 2018 by using 5-Band CA that combines 5 frequencies and 256QAM and 4x4 MIMO.
“Starting with 500Mbps service, we are going to continuously introduce best qualities to our customers.” said Director Lee Jong-bong of SK Telecom’s Infrastructure Sector. “Based on LTE-A Pro technology, which will go through continuous evolutions, we are going to open 5G generation that is to come in the near future.”
Staff Reporter An, Hochun | hcan@etnews.com

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<■Results from measurement of speed (Unit: Mbps) (Location: Bujeon-dong in Busan at 11 A.M. on the 1st of June) ▲ 1st trial Δ NIA Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 441.24 Δ Benchbee Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 427 Δ NIA Application (G5): 453.74 Δ Benchbee Application (G5): 425 ▲ 2nd trial Δ NIA Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 439.83 Δ Benchbee Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 439 Δ NIA Application (G5): 439.14 Δ Benchbee Application (G5): 394 ▲ 3rd trial Δ NIA Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 396.88 Δ Benchbee Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 399 Δ NIA Application (G5): 405.01 Δ Benchbee Application (G5): 444 ▲ 4thtrial Δ NIA Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 412.92 Δ Benchbee Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 428 Δ NIA Application (G5): 402.78 Δ Benchbee Application (G5): 434 ▲ 5thtrial Δ NIA Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 401.91 Δ Benchbee Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 411 Δ NIA Application (G5): 443.34 Δ Benchbee Application (G5): 452 ▲ Average Δ NIA Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 418.56 Δ Benchbee Application (Galaxy S7 Edge): 420.8 Δ NIA Application (G5): 428.8 Δ Benchbee Application (G5): 429.8 >