Commercial HSDPA Network Live

South Korea's SK Telecom has launched a fully commercial HSDPA (High Speed Data Packet Access) service. SK Telecom has introduced the first-ever HSDPA handset and announced the launching of the world's first handset-based commercial HSDPA network. The company has named the new service 3G+ (3G plus) to familiarize users with the HSDPA service.

The service launch signifies a major milestone for SK Telecom in both domestic and overseas markets. The company expects the introduction of the high-speed network will change the rules of the Korean mobile communications market from membership-based competition to service competition. On the other hand, SK Telecom hopes to speed up its advance into overseas markets by becoming the leading provider of HSDPA network technology in the currently 3G WCDMA-focused foreign market.

HSDPA, the upgrade of 3G WCDMA, is a global standard technology allowing video conferencing and high-speed, high-capacity data access to users. Together with CDMA EV-DO, it is projected to expand to become the next generation network technology of SK Telecom.

HSDPA technology theoretically offers a maximum download speed of 14.4 Mbps, with the current launch device supporting mobile data connections up to 1.8 Mbps. The downlink speed is expected to be able to reach 3.6 Mbps by early next year, 7.2 Mbps by the end of next year and 14.4 Mbps by 2008.

SK Telecom's HSDPA Service is currently available in 25 major cities, including Seoul, Incheon, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon and Jeju. The company plans to quickly extend its network to cover a total of 84 cities in Korea, aiming to provide full service across the country. SK Telecom hopes to sign up a total of 300,000 subscribers by the end of 2006.

SK Telecom kicks off its service with the world's first HSDPA handset, Samsung W200, released today. LG's HSDPA device, SH-100, will also be in stores by June and four to five other models will be added by year-end. The W200, released today, is a slide-up satellite DMB phone with a 2.0 mega pixel camera."

Posted to the site on 18th May 2006