SKT launches faster LTE service

By Kim Yoo-chul

SK Telecom, the nation’s top mobile carrier, said Wednesday that it will soon launch a next-generation mobile network, which will be twice as fast as the existing long-term evolution (LTE) one.

SK Telecom will be the first mobile carrier in the world to offer an LTE-Advanced network.

Samsung Electronics has already released Galaxy S4 handsets fit for the faster mobile environment. LG Electronics will also unveil its own products that will operate on the new network later this year.

Samsung said in a separate statement that its SHV-E330S Galaxy mobile phone is designed for the new network, in which the data processing speed is 150 megabits per second.

The announcements by both companies came as the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning plans to auction spectrums including a 1.8-gigahert frequency, regarded as the “golden spectrum” in August at the earliest amid growing consumer need for faster networks.

Samsung plans to soothe investor concerns over sluggish sales of its Galaxy S4 smartphones by pushing the new handset with the new telecommunications technology, said officials.

“SK Telecom plans to have as many as seven LTE-A devices available by the end of this year. LG Electronics and Pantech will also release smartphones that support our LTE-A technology from August,” said Park In-sik, a senior executive at SK Telecom, in a news conference at its headquarters in Eulji-ro, downtown Seoul.

SK Telecom is in talks with the nation’s telecom regulator to fix details of the pricing plans. The executive said approval will be given soon.

“As SK Telecom has been consistent in preparing advanced LTE networks, today’s announcement has no direct links with the government’s frequency auction plan,” Park told reporters.

Qualcomm helping Samsung

The Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A device uses processors supplied by U.S.-based telecom chip giant Qualcomm.

The Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm’s System-on-Chip contains a 2.3-gigahertz quad-core CPU, Samsung said. Officials told The Korea Times that the company has no imminent plans to put its Exynos-branded processors in the Galaxy LTE-A.

Samsung used its octa-core processor in the original Galaxy S4 smartphones. That logic chip, however, has some technology-related issues such as higher power consumption, according to analysts.

“Customers who purchased our Galaxy LTE-A will experience much faster data downloading and Web surfing. This is one of the meaningful achievements,” said a Samsung spokesman.