South Korean telecommunications leader SK Telecom has completed successful 5G trials using the 3.5GHz spectrum in partnership with Samsung and Nokia.
As the country’s largest mobile operator with 29.83 million subscribers, SK Telecom is working to maintain its lead in next-generation networks. The company aims to accelerate commercial 5G deployment by validating key technologies across both below-6GHz and above-6GHz frequency bands.
“With the successful demonstration of 5G communications using the 3.5GHz spectrum, SK Telecom has secured all key technologies for building commercial 5G networks using 3.5GHz and 28GHz frequency bands,” said Park Jin-hyo, Senior Vice President and Head of the Network R&D Center at SK Telecom. “We will maintain our leadership in 5G by enhancing our technologies for both above-6GHz and below-6GHz frequencies, while playing an active role in the standardization and commercialization of 5G technologies.”
Samsung built a 3.5GHz 5G system for the trial that included a 5G virtualized core, virtualized radio access network (vRAN), distributed units (baseband and radio units), and test devices—all based on 3GPP 5G New Radio (5G NR) standards. The trial was completed at Samsung Electronics’ R&D Center in Suwon, Korea.
“We achieved another milestone today, taking 5G into the sub-6GHz spectrum for use cases and applications requiring wider area network coverage,” said Park Dong-soo, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Sales & Marketing Team in Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “The below-6GHz spectrum has been identified by the industry as ideal for enabling 5G services such as autonomous and connected vehicles that require broad-area coverage. Today’s trial with SK Telecom is a significant development in our collaborative efforts to accelerate 5G commercialization.”
In a separate field trial, SK Telecom worked with Nokia to co-develop 5G base station equipment and test devices for the 3.5GHz band. The field test, held near SK Telecom’s Bundang office building, used carrier aggregation techniques to expand bandwidth and achieved gigabit-per-second class throughput.
“We are pleased to collaborate with SK Telecom on their journey towards 5G deployment,” said Andrew Cope, head of Nokia Korea. “5G technology will enable numerous use cases such as critical machine-type communications, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Demonstrating performance on the 3.5GHz band is a crucial step in developing the 5G ecosystem because it enables higher data speeds and more comprehensive coverage. Nokia is committed to advancing future technologies, and our partnership with SK Telecom will help accelerate the global 5G ecosystem.”
SK Telecom and its partners plan to continue work on improving transmission speeds, expanding coverage, and enhancing mobility stability. Ongoing development will focus on both network performance and real-world use cases to ensure robust 5G services across urban and broader-area deployments.
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