SK Telecom on Wednesday said it has achieved a peak downlink speed of 600 Mbps using 4×4 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology from Nokia Networks.
As the name suggests, 4×4 MIMO uses four transmit and receive antennas as opposed to the usual two in order to double the connection speed within the same frequency band.
To reach 600 Mbps, SK Telecom applied 4×4 MIMO to a 20 MHz block of spectrum, achieving a peak data rate of 300 Mbps. It then did the same using a second 20 MHz chunk of spectrum and then combined it with the first using carrier aggregation (CA) technology.
Devices with four antennas and CA have yet to be developed, so SK Telecom and Nokia used a simulated device supplied by test and measurement specialist Aeroflex.
"This successful demonstration of 4X4 MIMO technology not only strengthens our competitiveness in LTE-A, but also marks another important milestone in our journey towards achieving the next-generation network," said Park Jin-hyo, head of SK Telecom’s network technology R&D centre, in a statement.
Indeed, massive MIMO, which combines transmit and receive antennas in large numbers, is one of many technologies expected to play a role in 5G.
In January, SK Telecom and Nokia Networks signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering the joint development of mobile connections running on millimetre wave spectrum in frequency bands of 6.5 GHz and above.
The companies aim to show off the fruits of their labour by 2018.
