SK Telecom today announced that it will launch commercial tri-band LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) service tomorrow, December 29th, offering 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 Korean service provider said that the tri-band Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology which is four times faster than LTE and 21 times faster than 3G service is a first in the world. SK claims that at its peak speed, Tri-band LTE-A service allows users to download a 1GB movie in only 28 seconds.
SK Telecom has been offering 150Mbps two carriers LTE-A service 2x10MHz since June last year, and began 225Mbps Wideband LTE-A service by aggregating 20MHz bandwidth in 1.8GHz band and 10MHz bandwidth in 800MHz band in June 2014. SK demonstrated 'world's first' 450Mbps tri-band LTE-A by binding 3x20MHz bands at the Mobile World Congress 2014, held in Barcelona, Spain in February 2014. SK Telecom said that its subscribers will be able to enjoy the new service at the same price as LTE.
Lee Jong-bong, Executive Vice President and Head of Network Division, SK Telecom
With the launch of the world’s first tri-band LTE-A service, we will not only provide our customers with unprecedented network speeds, but also offer differentiated and diverse mobile value-added services that meet customers’ needs and interests.
