SK Telecom announced on September 27 that Apple allowed multi-carrier software to be installed on the iPhone5 it supplies in Korea. With the aid of the technology, long-term evolution (LTE) data services can be provided selectively either in an 800MHz or 1.8GHz frequency bandwidth. The selection of the roomier bandwidth is performed automatically.
It is unprecedented that Apple opened its terminal platform for the service of a certain mobile carrier. It has put strong restrictions so that any iPhone users can use the same software environments irrespective of operators. That is why iPhones have no pre-load applications.
The approval of the multi-carrier software seems to be because it does not affect the iPhone’s user interface and is not in competitive relations with Apple’s services. Also, it seems to have to do with the data communication speed. A number of new non-Apple smart phones support multi-carrier operation for faster data communications.