Leading South Korean telecom carrier, SK Telecom Co. Ltd. (SKM) has started offering enhanced Internet speeds of 225 Mbps in Seoul. Starting next month, the company plans to cover the entire country with this upgraded network service.
The new LTE Advanced network will make use of the carrier aggression (CA) technology that combines 20MHz frequency in 1.8GHz bandwidth and 10MHz spectrum in 800MHz band to offer significantly higher downlink speeds. Moreover, the advanced network will be well supported with the improved Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphones, allowing better usage of bandwidth and faster network speed.
Higher adoption of smartphones and tablets has popularized the viewing of online HD videos which consume high amounts of bandwidth. Meanwhile, higher usage of smart devices has resulted in network congestion. Thus, in order to deliver smooth and speedy video streaming services, most telecom operators are continuously upgrading networks from 3G to 4GLTE and now LTE-A.
Notably, SK Telecom was the first carrier to commercialize LTE-A services with 150 Mbps speed followed by KT and LGU+. At the end of 2013, there were 300 carriers offering LTE service across 107 countries, with South Korea accounting for the highest 4GLTE penetration rate of 62%, according to reports by Juniper Networks.
Significantly higher demand for high-speed technology on advanced smartphones has increased the demand for higher LTE-A speeds in the country. Thus, to capitalize on such opportunities ahead of its rivals, SK Telecom has made a head start with this latest 225 Mbps offering.
Currently, SK Telecom carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Other Stocks to Consider
Related stocks belonging to the same industry are Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (CHT), TIM Participacoes S.A. (TSU) and BlackBerry Limited (BBRY). All three have a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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