Korean telco to deploy 300Mbps LTE-A service

South Korean telco SK Telecom will launch a superfast mobile data service boasting 300Mbps download speeds this year.

The Long Term Evolution - Advanced (LTE-A) 4G service will use three frequency bands, one 20MHz wide and two others of 10MHz width in the 1800MHz and 850MHz spectrums, according to SK Telecom.

The telco already operates an LTE-A service in South Korean urban areas, which is capable of up to 150Mbps speeds. Ericsson is the network equipment partner, providing kit for some 32,000 base stations in 84 cities.

LTE-A makes it possible to aggregate up to five 20MHz bands for a total of 100MHz bandwidth. SK Telecom said it is looking at expanding the service to four or five bands of spectrum for even higher data speeds.

Three-band carrier aggregation is not yet standardised globally however, and won't be commercialised until the end of 2014.

SK Telecom did not reveal which devices would support its network, but the telco has worked with Samsung in the past to market LTE-A capable Galaxy S4S smartphones.

SK Telecom also said it intends to demonstrate carrier aggregation using three 20MHz bands to reach 450Mbps downloads at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, next month.