SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) announced today that it successfully demonstrated Uplink Cooperative Multi-Point (or Uplink CoMP), a technology that can significantly improve LTE data upload speeds in base station boundary areas.


Signal strength is weakened in base station boundary areas, which leads to customer inconveniences caused by reduced data transmission speed. As more and more customers are uploading data from their devices (e.g. sending photos, videos taken with their mobile devices to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, or uploading specific images/videos to the cloud for safe and long storage), SK Telecom decided to join hands with Ericsson, the world’s largest maker of mobile network equipment by market share, to develop Uplink CoMP to enhance customer convenience by increasing data upload speeds in coverage boundary areas.


SK Telecom and Ericsson started developing Uplink CoMP since last July and conducted a two-week technology demonstration from October 15, 2012. The demonstration showed that data upload speed (from device located in the coverage boundary area) between macro base stations increased by more than 20%.


Uplink CoMP speeds up the data uploading rate/process in the coverage boundary areas by receiving handset/device signals through multiple base stations and then choosing the signal of the highest quality to be uploaded. 


Moreover, in case a user conducts data download and upload at the same time, the uploading and downloading tasks will be handled separately by different base stations (and using a better quality base station for data uploads), thereby allowing users to actually experience the accelerated speed of data transmission.


When the strengths of signals from two different base stations are similar, it accelerates the data upload speed by integrating the received signals to amplify the strength, which also result in extending the device’s battery life by realizing the existing level of transmission speed with only a half amount of transmission power.


In particular, all LTE device users will be able to benefit from the technology immediately after its commercialization, which is expected to take place in mid-2013, as it will be applied directly to base stations, thus not requiring any device upgrades.


Kang Jong-ryeol, Head of Network Technology R&D Center of SK Telecom said, "SK Telecom is committed to keep developing differentiated technologies like Uplink CoMP, which will enable us to efficiently offer services that meet the needs of our customers and the market. Through these efforts, we aim to build a strong global technological leadership in not only the LTE era, but also in the era of LTE-Advanced as well."