Mobile carriers battle to lead 4G technology
By Yoon Ja-young
Mobile carriers are battling to get a head start in the fourth generation (4G) telecommunication technology amid growing consumer complaints over the data traffic explosion.
SK Telecom held a 4G long term evolution (LTE) network demonstration at its Bundang office, south of Seoul, Tuesday. At the demonstration, the country’s largest mobile carrier compared speeds of 4G LTE and currently used technology, the third-generation (3G) WCDMA.
LTE, the mobile network technology which was named as it can use 3G telecommunication devices, has been competing with WiBro to become the global 4G standard. It seems to be winning so far, receiving support in Europe and expanding its power in the United States.
The new technology boasts data transmission five to seven times faster than 3G, and is especially suitable for large volume, real time data services. SK Telecom showcased LTE-based 3D video streaming and high definition video content downloads and demonstrated high definition video calls between two handsets, one user on a moving bus and the other in the Bundang office.
The demonstration follows SK Telecom’s first LTE frequency at 2 a.m., April 16. As soon as the Central Radio Management Office under the Korea Communications Commission gave SK Telecom and LG Uplus permission to operate their LTE test network Friday the two companies rushed to be first. SK Telecom, which set its test-bed in Bundang, was successful at 2 a.m. and LG Uplus sent its first LTE frequency from Osan, Gyeonggi Province, at 4 a.m. the same day. Both of them will continue with call processing and handover tests, check data transmission speeds and optimize the network in the wireless environment.
SK Telecom will be using bandwidth between 829 MHz and 839 MHz for sending, and 874 MHz to 884 MHz for receiving. It aims at commercializing the service in July. LG Uplus set its bandwidth from 839 MHz to 849 MHz for sending and 884 MHz to 894 MHz for receiving. It will also start its commercialized LTE service from July.
Data explosion
Amid the smartphone and tablet PC boom, data traffic has reached its limits here. Smartphone users have reached 10 million, with some expecting the figure to be 21 million by the end of the year. Tablet computers are also becoming widely available. Telecommunications companies’ heated competition to draw subscribers made them launch unlimited data schemes and the decision is now threatening their capacity to deal with the traffic. SK Telecom started an unlimited data plan in August and saw mobile traffic grow to 2331 terabytes as of the end of December from 298 TB in July. KT offered unlimited data deals in September saw traffic more than triple to 1715 TB in December from 511 TB of August.
The data explosion led to growing consumer complaints over deteriorating service quality, which include dropped calls and choppy voice quality.
Hence, mobile carriers have been eying the new technology as a possible solution. LTE is already commercialized by 16 mobile carriers in 13 different countries, including major cities in the United States, Sweden and Norway. Japan also has commercial LTE service available in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. China Mobile and 55 operators around the world are currently conducting commercial tests of LTE networks. It is expected to rapidly be deployed from 2012 when LTE_based smartphones and tablets will be widely available.
LTE is fast. LG Uplus’ LTE test network offers data download speeds of 73 Mbps, compared with 14.4 Mbps for 3G, and an upload speed of 36 Mbps. It means it would take only two minutes to download a 1.4 GHz movie, while it took seven minutes using 3G.
The technology would mark a new chapter in telecommunications. High definition video services will be possible thanks to enhanced transmission speeds. It would help develop content and the application industry. Mobile games will become as widespread and abundant as those on the Web. Large volume fancy graphics and simultaneous multiplayer options are likely to be especially popular.
SK Telecom stresses that it has operated at 800 MHz during the past two decades. It has been serving 2G users on the 800 MHz bandwidth. “We will concentrate our operating know-how of the 800 MHz and provide the utmost service quality in 4G LTE. We will actively use the 800 MHz devices we have, such as a gap filler, to provide perfect coverage in basements or indoors,” a representative for SK Telecom said.
LG Uplus, the smallest player, has been preparing for LTE as it considers the technology its last chance. “The past year was a bad ordeal for us. We felt helpless due to lack of smartphone supply and the fierce competition in the market added to our difficulties,” LG Uplus CEO Lee Sang-chul said in a message to employees. LG Uplus was left behind in the smartphone competition last year as it had no globally popular handsets available for its bandwidth. “Now is the time for us to make the best effort for a turnaround,” Lee said.
LG has been making massive investment in LTE networks to get ahead of others in the next battle. It is investing 1.25 trillion won in LTE this year and next, to complete a nationwide LTE network by the middle of the next year.
It has set up a next-generation, multi-mode base station, where 2G and 3G base stations can be easily converted to 4G LTE stations. It has also established 250 bank stations and is installing in-building repeaters for LTE.
KT, which enjoyed the smartphone boom as the sole supplier of Apple’s iPhone here, is remaining silent on LTE. It is focusing on WiBro and Wi-Fi instead to offload traffic. It plans to start testing LTE in the latter half of the year.
Hong In-gi, a professor at Kyunghee University, said that LTE users will reach 9 million by the end of next year. He says that it would be better for companies to turn to LTE instead of trying to upgrade 3G networks to HSPA+ from HSDPA. “The upgrade would cost 500 billion won in metropolitan areas. It would delay saturation of the network for a year, but it would delay LTE evolution by eating into LTE investment,” he said.