SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) today announced that, in collaboration with Samsung Electronics, it completed building a system to support the development of Millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology, one of the key enabling technologies for 5G, at the Corporate R&D Center housed in its Bundang Building. With the launch of the mmWave system, SK Telecom becomes the first mobile carrier in Korea to install 5G equipment in its building.

The mmWave system will allow the two companies to realize dramatically enhanced data transmission speeds; test, verify and improve wireless transmission performance between base station and handset; and review the possibility of applying mmWave technologies in the downtown areas.

As one of the key 5G enabling technologies, mmWave technology uses 30GHz or higher frequency bands to deliver significantly faster data transmission speeds. Due to saturation and fragmentation of frequency bands below 6GHz being used today for mobile telecommunications, mobile operators expect mmWave technologies that allow for the utilization of wide bandwidth in the higher frequency bands to help them open the 5G era earlier.

SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics have been working together since October 2014 to develop technologies that will enable the use of spectrum above 6GHz, which were considered to be difficult to use for cellular communications due to high propagation loss.

In particular, at the GSMA Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain in March 2015, they have jointly demonstrated ultra-fast transmission speed of 7.55Gbps through '3D Beamforming*,' a technology for transmission of massive data in millimeter-wave frequency bands, and displayed a robot that is remote controlled by a human wearing an exoskeleton.

The two companies have stepped up their collaborative efforts to develop 5G technologies after entering into a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in five core ICT areas, including next-generation network and IoT, in April 2015.

With the establishment of the mmWave system, SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics expect to further solidify their leadership in 5G enabling technologies and accelerate their move towards achieving the world's first commercialization of the 5G network.

"Through close collaboration with a global ICT player Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom is pleased to launch the mmWave system where we can develop and verify mmWave technologies," said Alex Jinsung Choi, CTO, Executive Vice President and Head of SK Telecom's Corporate R&D Center. "SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics will further strengthen joint R&D efforts to lead the upcoming 5G era."

"Through long-standing collaboration with the Korea's largest mobile operator SK Telecom, Samsung Electronics has been developing the most advanced telecommunication systems," said Cheun Kyung-whoon, Executive Vice of DMC R&D Center at Samsung Electronics. "We will continue to work closely with SK Telecom to lead the development of 5G technologies."