Operator aims to achieve data transmission speeds of 750 Mbps
South Korean mobile operator LG Uplus has carried out the first demonstration of LTE in unlicensed spectrum in the country.
The telecom firm said that LTE-U technology, which works with the 5.8 GHz unlicensed spectrum, is capable of transmitting data at up to 600 Mbps. The Korean operator had initially developed the technology in October.
“We took a big step forward in the LTE technology race again by realizing the 600 Mbps, the fastest data transmission speed used in a commercial mobile network, following the world’s first development and demonstration of an LTE-U network,” said Lee Sang-min, LG Uplus service development division head.
The LG Uplus demonstration was carried out through a combination of 60 MHz bandwidth in the 5.8 GHz spectrum band and 20 MHz of licensed LTE spectrum using carrier aggregation technology.
Based on this technology, the company plans to expand the use of the 5.8 GHz unlicensed spectrum to 80 MHz bandwidth to achieve a 750 Mbps data download speed.
LG Uplus plans to commercialize the LTE-U network once mobile phones that support the faster transmission speed are launched on the local market.
In 2014, the operator launched its tri-band LTE- Advanced service. The network currently enables the mobile provider to offer a peak speed of 300 Mbps through spectrum in the 800 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands.
LG Uplus has offered LTE-A nationwide since July 2013, through network infrastructure provided by Swedish vendor Ericsson.
The operator ended the first quarter of 2015 with 8.7 million subscribers in the LTE segment, climbing 4% compared to the last quarter of 2014.
According to the telco’s latest quarterly report, LTE technology accounted for 77% of its overall subscriber base. By the end of 2013, LTE represented 65% of LG Uplus’ overall customer base.
Overall capital expenditures during Q1 reached nearly $217 million, down 60.1% vs. the same period a year ago. The lower investment in Q1 2015 was chiefly attributed to the completion of the roll-out of the firm’s LTE-A network.
LG Uplus, fully owned by LG Corporation, is South Korea’s third-largest mobile operator behind SK Telecom and KT Corp.
