South Korean carrier SK Telecom is now offering tri-band LTE-Advanced commercial service with Carrier Aggregation technology. Tri-band LTE-A service offers data speeds of up to 300Mbps by aggregating three component carriers in three different frequency bands: 20MHz bandwidth in 1.8GHz band, 10MHz bandwidth in 800MHz band, and 10MHz bandwidth in 2.1GHz band.

Prior to today’s commercialization of tri-band LTE-A Carrier Aggregation (CA), SK Telecom has been offering LTE-A service by aggregating two carriers. It launched 150Mbps LTE-A service by aggregating 10MHz bandwidth in 1.8GHz band and 10MHz bandwidth in 800MHz band in June 2013, and began 225Mbps Wideband LTE-A service by aggregating 20MHz bandwidth in 1.8GHz band and 10MHz bandwidth in 800MHz band in June 2014. 

The company has successfully demonstrated the 450Mbps tri-band LTE-A by binding three 20MHz bands at the Mobile World Congress 2014, held in Barcelona, Spain in February 2014.

Since the company has already secured Wideband LTE-A coverage in main areas of all 84 cities nationwide with 800MHz and 1.8GHz base stations, it can offer tri-band LTE-A service by adding 2.1GHz base stations. The company plans to build more than 26,000 2.1GHz base stations within the first quarter of 2015 to provide its customers with tri-band LTE-Advanced service in Seoul/ Seoul Metropolitan Area, central areas of all cities nationwide as well as all subway lines in Korea.

Operator plans to sell Galaxy Note 4 S-LTE, tri-band LTE-A capable device, limitedly to a group of consumers who wish to use the service ahead of others and provide feedback on issues including its performance (e.g. speed, transmission stability, etc.) and convenience features. Through this process, SK Telecom aims to further improve its tri-band LTE-A service to better meet its customers’ needs.