The Vice Chairman of LG U+, Lee Sang-chul, wrote on the company's intranet about the upcoming launch of the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE), showing his determination to become the market leader in 4G technologies.
After LG U+ tested its first 4G LTE radio wave, Lee wrote a message on the company's intranet on April 18 with a title of "Now It's Time to Put Extra-Strong Effort".
He went on to say, "LG U+ went through difficult times last year. We felt powerless due to not enough smartphone supplies, and the growing competition in the telecommunication market made it even worse. However, it is always darkest before the dawn."
"It's time to concentrate our efforts to become the leader in 4G LTE, where our future lies." He also added, "Let us set a high standard for quality and speed competitiveness, and carry out our plans with a prepared mind-set." He ended the message by saying, "We will see our efforts today turn into fruits of hope tomorrow."
Lee also showed his strong determination to become the market leader in 4G by launching the 4G promotional team and completing the nationwide LTE network early. Earlier this year, LG U+ launched the 4G infrastructure, 4G services and the 4G innovation in order to prepare commercialization of the LTE service. Also, Lee is presiding over LTE's strategy meetings and thoroughly checking up on the 4G service preparing process.
Additionally, Lee moved up the completion date of the nationwide LTE network a year ahead from 2013 to mid 2012. To achieve this, LG U+ has decided to invest a total of KRW 1.25 trillion, KRW 850 billion this year and KRW 400 billion next year. In 2011, along with 850 KRW billion investment in LTE, LG U+ is planning to invest a total of KRW 1.7 trillion in network services, the biggest investment ever made since its foundation.
The executives of LG U+ are also actively preparing for the commercialization of the 4G LTE service. At the end of last March, LG U+ conducted an in-house contest called 'Name Our New Brand for 4G LTE'. The response was so enthusiastic that 1,000 brand names were suggested in two weeks. Also, the company has collected ideas about 4G services through an in-company online idea discussion space called "Idea Plus'.
Korea's first test distribution of the 800MHz frequency band high-speed 4 G LTE
According to LG U+, it obtained approval for LTE test-beds and completed a pre-delivery inspection on April 15, and it was to activate test networks to commercialize the LTE with 800MHz frequency band for 4G in Osan, Gyeonggi-do.
As a preparation for launching the LTE early common-use service, it has installed base stations and optical repeaters for LG Ericsson, Samsung Electronics and Nokia Siemens Networks in the region of Osan, Gyeonggi-do. It also decided to send the test radio wave as it received permission for test-beds.
The test radio wave has 800MHz frequency band and it uses 839MHz-849MHz for uplink and 884MHz-894MHz for downlink. This frequency band corresponds to the radio wave that will be used for 4G LTE common-use services in this coming July.
This test was designed to build the same wireless environment as LTE common-use networks to verify LTE network devices for 800MHz and to ensure LTE common-use service has no unexpected problems. Also, this test will help LG U+ to understand the characteristics of 800MHz frequency band and the performance of the LTE system through tests, including call-processing in real wireless environment, maximum data transfer rate, and LTE network optimization.
LTE's test network downlink rate (73Mbps) is five times faster than the 3G service's (14.4Mbp), and its uplink rate can reach 36Mbps. This means it only takes two minutes to download a 1.4 gig movie while the 3G network takes seven minutes. Downloading one hundred MP3 music files will only take forty seconds.
Starting with activating LTE test network in Osan, Gyeonggi-do, LG U+ is planning to expend the service to Seoul, Busan and Gwangju.
Meanwhile, LG U+ has installed multi-mode base stations that can be altered easily to 4G LTE. To install nationwide LTE network promptly, LG U+ has built 1,400 multi-mode base stations and also 250 bank base stations that operate base station systems and antennas separately. It is also spurring on developing in-building repeaters and medium sized repeaters.
LG U+ allocated 800MHz test radio wave frequency by Korea Communications Commission and was permitted to set up a LTE test wireless station by the Central Radio Management Office. Therefore, it has completed all the processes to send the LTE test radio wave by receiving a pre-delivery inspection from the Korea Communications Agency.
The General Manager of SD division, Kang Mun-suk said, "Sending the 4G LTE test radio wave for the first time in Korea is LG U+'s first step to be on top of the 4G market and it will remain an important event in telecommunication history." He continued, "We will stimulate competition through commercialization and popularization of LTE and lay the foundation to become the IT leader in the global market.
