KT demonstrate fastest LTE

By Kim Yoo-chul

Local telecommunications giant KT said Monday it has teamed up with Intel to demonstrate the fastest-ever wireless data transmission technologies at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), being held in the Spanish city of Barcelona.

The technologies include LTE-Advanced tri-band carrier aggregation (CA), which offers a maximum speed of 450Mbps, the fastest ever.

KT also released various other advanced mobile wireless technologies, a move aimed at bolstering its profile in its conventionally-strong telecommunications business under its new CEO.

Intel is providing modem chipsets for “femtocells” an integral part of KT’s LTE-A telecommunications service. KT said it will jointly develop next-generation wireless technologies with the American company.

Femtocells are fully featured low power mobile base stations connected using standard broadband DSL or cable services into the mobile operator’s network.

They offer qualified mobile phone coverage at home for both voice and data, but at a lower cost, said KT officials.

The firm is planning to incorporate three features ― wiFi, DSL and mobile ― into a single box as LTE-A is gaining momentum globally.

Spokesman Jeong Seong-hyuck said the firm has joined hands with Nokia Solution and Network (NSN) to incorporate TDD- and FD-LTE wireless technologies into a single solution to help customers experience much faster data-downloading speeds.

“Amid an era of data explosion, triggered by tablets and smartphones, KT is being asked to better prepare for the industry’s new trends and the demonstrations at the fair are a reflection our commitment to lead in the segment,” the spokesman said.

Under the new CEO, Hwang Chang-gyu, a former president at Samsung Electronics who was the creator of “Hwang’s Law” in semiconductors, KT is putting more resources into recovering its ailing telecommunications-related businesses by realigning its business structure.

The partnership with Samsung Electronics, the world’s top vendor for smartphones, is also seeing a sign of improvement with KT scouting more Samsung executives for telecom-related business divisions.

While KT is being challenged by LG Uplus in Korea in the heated race for LTEs, market analysts say KT looks safe to widen the gap.

“Uplus has limits in trying to expand its nationwide LTE coverage as its marketing budget isn’t that high. But KT is investing in wireless technologies with the money it saved from business realignment,” said Kim Il-tae, a senior fund manager at MIDO Investment in Seoul.

Based on confidence in those demonstrations in Barcelona, KT will expand its LTE-A service to five other cities outside Seoul by next month, and provide nationwide LTE-A coverage by July.

The company currently operates some 100,000 mobile base stations and has around 6.5 million LTE customers, it said.