By Kim Yoo-chul
SK Telecom, the country’s mobile-phone carrier, claims that the experience gained from its advancements in Long Term Evolution (LTE) technologies will be revolutionary.
Just to get its point across, it took a team of journalists and photographers to the remote island of Baekyeong, near the maritime border between South and North Korea, where they saw a number of locals test voice and video calls on LTE-enabled handsets provided by the carrier. The quality of the communication seemed to range between solid and exceptional.
The country’s three wireless carriers, including KT and LG Uplus, are vowing to get out of the gate early in what they see as a lucrative market for LTE-based voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), described as Internet telephony on steroids.
LTE-based VoIP, dubbed by the carriers as VoLTE, will not only enable quality voice calls, but unprecedented quality in video calls, with operators promising high definition (HD) picture quality.
While free VoIP services have hit the carriers in revenue in recent years, SK Telecom officials claim VoLTE will provide enough of a value-added experience that customers will be glad to pay for.
SK Telecom branded its VoLTE offerings as ``HD Voice,’’ describing it as a premium communication service that offers integrated voice, video and data transfers.
Compared to the existing 3G voice calls, it offers up to 2.2 times better sound quality and a twice faster call connection speed, requiring less than 0.3-2.5 seconds in call connecting time, an SK Telecom official said.
``This is the first time that a VoLTE service was successfully tested on the five islands including Baeknyeong near the western sea border. It should be no problem for our VoLTE service to achieve nationwide coverage as planned,’’ she said.
In June, SK Telecom built-up networks and other data transmission-related equipment ahead of the company’s nationwide launch of its VoLTE service from September this year.
More equipment helped SK Telecom cut the number of system errors to less than 70 monthly from 640 cases, previously, the spokeswoman said. ``Residents of the five islands near the South-North western sea border will enjoy stable LTE services,’’ she added.
SK Telecom is building up its LTE networks on the sea as the company is seeing an increased demand for faster wireless Internet service from ferries, patrol boats, and cruise ships.
The company said its VoLTE is far better than mobile VoIP (m-VoIP) with call quality on a ``significantly different level.’’
SK Telecom, and the runner-up KT and the nation’s smallest Uplus are being threatened by the rising popularity of free m-VoIP services which are currently being serviced from Kakao Talk, a local Internet service provider.
In line with the bullish investment by SK Telecom, LG Uplus CEO Lee Sang-chul said the impact of the sudden rise of Kakao Talk on the local telecommunication industry will be ``short-lived’’ as customers are questioning the call quality of free m-VoIP services.
SK Telecom recently increased its LTE subscriber target to 7 million by the end of the year, up from 6 million.
The world’s biggest phone maker Samsung Electronics will offer a free software upgrade for its latest Galaxy S3 phone users enabling them to experience VoLTE service through a SK Telecom network, according to Samsung officials.
KT and LG Uplus plan to offer the service in Korea sometime in the second half of this year. SK Telecom’s rollout will start in Seoul and six other major cities, expanding to 23 by next year.