Korean telecommunications provider SK Telecom Co. SKM) launched the country’s first LTE service on July 1, providing initial service to the Seoul market. The carrier said it expects to attract 300,000 LTE customers by the end of the year and 10 million subscribers by the end of 2015.
SK Telecom announced its LTE plans earlier this year selecting network infrastructure providers Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., LG-Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks.
The network is claimed to provide maximum network download speeds of 75 megabits per second. The carrier also provides mobile broadband services using HSPA+ and the Korean version of the WiMAX standard known as Wibro.
SK Telecom said the initial service launch uses 10 megahertz of 800 MHz spectrum, with plans to double the spectrum allocation to 20 megahertz by the fourth quarter. In Seoul, the network is using 1,772 radio units, 609 digital units and using its existing 200,000 repeaters to provide coverage.
In order to hit its customer acquisition numbers, SK Telecom plans to launch an LTE smartphone in September and a total of nine LTE-equipped devices by the end of the year. Rate plans LTE-enabled wireless modems run $33 per month for 5 gigabytes of data transmission and $46 per month for 9 GB, with overage charged at 5 cents per megabyte. Price plans for smartphones will be released later this year.
SK Telecom currently serves more than 25 million customers, accounting for more than half of the country’s mobile market share. The company posted $521 million in earnings during the first quarter, which was a 35.7% increase compared with the previous year.
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