SAN DIEGO, Sept. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualcomm
Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that its subsidiary,
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), and SK Telecom (CEO Dong-hyun
Jang, www.sktelecom.com) announced the first over-the-air
technology demonstration of eLAA (Enhanced Licensed Assisted
Access) and LAA (Licensed Assisted Access) that utilizes both
licensed and unlicensed spectrum at SK Telecom's Corporate R&D
Center in Bundang, Korea.
eLAA technology increases data speeds in both uplink and
downlink by aggregating licensed and unlicensed spectrum to create
a wider data pipe in both directions. eLAA is an evolution of LAA,
which used the unlicensed spectrum to boost the data speed in the
downlink direction only.
The demo uses 2.6GHz licensed spectrum and 5GHz unlicensed
spectrum. When evaluating coexistence, a baseline was first
established using only Wi-Fi users, of which some were then
switched from Wi-Fi to LAA/eLAA while others remained on Wi-Fi. The
trial demonstrated that the users that remained on Wi-Fi were
unaffected by those that switched to LAA/eLAA. This effectively
demonstrates that LAA/eLAA shares the unlicensed spectrum fairly
with Wi-Fi. The sharing mechanism used by LAA/eLAA is called
listen-before-talk (LBT). As for performance, LAA and eLAA were
shown in multiple test cases to achieve 2X capacity in 5 GHz than
the Wi-Fi only baseline.
In June 2015, SK Telecom launched
"Band LTE Wi-Fi" service based on Multi-Path Transmission Control
Protocol (MPTCP) technology that combines LTE and Wi-Fi traffic to
enable downlink rates up to 1.17Gbps. This means that SK Telecom
can now choose from two available technologies to combine
unlicensed spectrum with existing LTE spectrum, eLAA and MPTCP.
In addition to MPTCP and eLAA, which use unlicensed spectrum in
hotspots, SK Telecom is also concentrating on further LTE-Advanced
Pro technology development based on new frequency bands to deliver
faster data rate than competitors while mobile with wider coverage
areas.
Eduardo Esteves, vice president,
product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. said, "This trial
aims to demonstrate fair and harmonious coexistence of LAA with
Wi-Fi in unlicensed spectrum. This is also a manifestation of
Qualcomm Technologies' and SK Telecom's leadership in leveraging
the latest technologies to improve user experience."
Jin Hyo Park, head of network
technology at SK Telecom said, "A flexible combination between
licensed and unlicensed spectrum is necessary to enable high
quality massive 5G service." He added, "We will lead the network
innovation towards LTE-A Pro and 5G including combining licensed
and unlicensed spectrum technologies such as eLAA and MPTCP."
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G, 4G
and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated
includes Qualcomm's licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority
of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary
of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries,
substantially all of Qualcomm's engineering, research and
development functions, and substantially all of its products and
services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For
more than 30 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the
evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more
closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more
information, visit Qualcomm's website, OnQ blog, Twitter and
Facebook pages.
About SK Telecom
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, KSE: 017670), established in 1984, is
Korea's largest telecommunications company with more than 29.15
million mobile subscribers, accounting for around 50% of the
market. The company reached KRW 17.137
trillion in revenue in 2015. As the world's first company to
commercialize CDMA, CDMA 2000 1x, CDMA EV-DO and HSDPA networks, SK
Telecom launched the nation's first LTE service in July 2011. SK Telecom also became the world's
first mobile carrier to commercialize 150Mbps LTE-Advanced in
June 2013 and 225Mbps LTE-Advanced in
June 2014 through Carrier Aggregation
(CA). In line with its efforts to swiftly move towards the
next-generation mobile network system, or 5G, it successfully
commercialized 300Mbps tri-band LTE-A CA in December 2014 and launched LTE-Advanced Pro in
June 2016. As of the end of
June 2016, the company has over 20.03
million LTE and LTE-Advanced subscribers. Based on its strength in
network operations business, SK Telecom is seeking new growth
engines through three innovative platforms namely Lifestyle
Enhancement Platform, Advanced Media Platform and IoT Service
Platform. For more information, please visit www.sktelecom.com/en
or email to skt_press@sk.com.
Qualcomm Contacts:
Pete Lancia, Corporate
Communications
Phone: 1-858-845-5959
Email: corpcomm@qualcomm.com
John Sinnott, Investor
Relations
Phone: 1-858-658-4813
Email: ir@qualcomm.com
SK Telecom Contact:
Cindy Kang
(822) 6100-3836
(8210) 9113-2344
Email: psyche@sk.com
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SOURCE Qualcomm Incorporated