Models promote SK Telecom’s commercialization of the world’s first Tri-band LTE-A service

(Photos:SKT)

SK Telecom President Jang Dong-hyun delivered his New Year’s message on Jan. 2, calling for the company to devote itself to innovating corporate value based on nimble and strong execution of actions.

“The Year 2015 is a year of making a first step toward a journey for another 30 years, and first of all, let’s devote ourselves to innovating corporate values through future growth,” President Jang said.

“Despite strenuous efforts we’ve made so far, we’re still in a situation where we’ve yet to ensure future growth in a whirlwind of fierce competition that goes beyond borders and industries,” he said. President Jang said SK Telecom should achieve success without fail in exploring new business areas by thoroughly taking stock of existing businesses and solidifying conventional strengths. 

To this end, he said, SK Telecom will have to create an environment in which new attempts are endlessly made and the company is nimble enough to challenge for new opportunities with an undaunted spirit. 

In the exiting mobile phone business arena, Jang aid SK Telecom needs to be equipped with the capability to ensure disruptive innovation by enhancing efficiency and revamping systems. And disruptive innovation will lead to powerful execution and ultimately offering differentiated products and services to become a winner, selected by customers in a fierce completion, he said.   

SK Telecom Commercializes World’s First Tri-band LTE-A Service 29

SK Telecom launched commercial service of tri-band LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) for the first time in the world.

Tri-band LTE-A service offers data speeds of up to 300Mbps by aggregating three component carriers in three different frequency bands: 20MHz bandwidth in 1.8GHz band, 10MHz bandwidth in 800MHz band, and 10MHz bandwidth in 2.1GHz band.

The service is four times faster than LTE and 21 times faster than 3G service. For instance, at its peak speed, Tri-band LTE-A service allows users to download a 1GB movie in only 28 seconds.

Prior to today’s commercialization of tri-band LTE-A Carrier Aggregation (CA), SK Telecom had been offering LTE-A service by aggregating two carriers: It launched 150Mbps LTE-A service by aggregating 10MHz bandwidth in 1.8GHz band and 10MHz bandwidth in 800MHz band in June 2013, and began 225Mbps Wideband LTE-A service by aggregating 20MHz bandwidth in 1.8GHz band and 10MHz bandwidth in 800MHz band in June 2014, both for the first time in the world. The company developed the world’s first tri-band LTE-A CA technology in January 2014 and successfully demonstrated the 450Mbps tri-band LTE-A by binding three 20MHz bands at the Mobile World Congress 2014, held in Barcelona, Spain in February 2014.

Moreover, with the successful commercialization of tri-band LTE-A CA, SK Telecom not only secured an important edge in LTE-A 4-band CA and 5-band CA, but also moves a step closer to realizing 5G service. The company, under its technology roadmap on 5G, is making aggressive efforts to develop the world’s fastest telecommunication technology.