SK Telecom has announced the launch of five-band carrier aggregation (CA) and 4X4 multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technologies as part of its ongoing evolution to 5G.
The operator has made five-band CA LTE-A Pro available in the main areas of 53 cities across South Korea, supporting data rates of up to 700Mbps.
The five-band CA service utilizes SK Telecom's 10MHz of 800-MHz spectrum, 20MHz in the 1.8-GHz band, 10MHz in 2.1-GHZ as well as a 10MHz and 20MHz carrier in the 2.6-GHz bands.
SK Telecom has meanwhile launched 900Mbps LTE-A Pro in the CBDs of six cities by combining existing three or four band carrier aggregation with 4x4 MIMO. The six cities are Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon and Ulsan.
Among SK Telecom's handset line-up, currently only the Samsung Galaxy S8 supports these new services, and will require an over-the-air firmware upgrade to do so. But the operator said it anticipates that more upcoming premium smartphones will support the services.
SK Telecom has set a target of having the two services combined cover more than 50% of the Korean population by the end of the year.
The operator also plans to launch 1Gbps LTE-A Pro services in the first half of next year by combining five- or four-band CA with other technologies such as 4X4 MIMO.
“SK Telecom’s LTE-A Pro services represent an early application of 5G technologies that support Gbps-level data speeds and massive network capacity,” SK Telecom SVP and head of infrastructure strategy Choi Seung-won said.
““SK Telecom will continue to offer differentiated mobile communications quality through LTE-A Pro service, while utilizing the network to gain a valuable edge in the 5G era.”