SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) announced today that it successfully performed the world’s first demonstration of a core LTE-A technology named Transmission Mode 9 (TM-9) under partnership with Ericsson, a global leading provider of telecommunications solutions and services.


TM-9 is a technology that defines the way of transmission between mobile devices and base stations. It has been chosen as a new LTE-A specification by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project in June 2011. Looking ahead, TM-9 will serve as the key technology in building HetNet (heterogeneous networks) that enable telecommunications companies to realize greater network efficiency.


In mobile network environment, data transmission rate decreases in boundary areas between base stations and overlapping areas covered by multiple adjacent base stations. Therefore, telecommunications companies are developing diverse technologies to minimize inter-base station interference and enhance network stability.

 

SK Telecom said it developed TM-9 to build an optimal network environment by expanding base station capacity while minimizing interference between base stations in response to the upcoming LTE-A environment where data transmission speeds and capacity will become of greater importance.

 

TM-9 allows base stations to distinguish mobile devices and send different demodulation ref-erence signals (DM-RS) to each mobile device located within the coverage area. In addition, each base station uses its unique channel information reference signal (CSI-RS) to communi-cate with devices.

 

Ultimately, it creates optimal transmission environment for each and every mobile device, en-suring a certain level of data transmission speed and increasing base station capacity through reduction of unnecessary use of base station resources.  

The development and demonstration of TM-9 began in October 2012 under global R&D partnership between SK Telecom and Ericsson. The results of the demonstration showed that TM-9 was able to increase data transmission rate of mobile devices by 10 to 15 percent in areas of inter-cell interference.

 

SK Telecom and Ericsson will continue to work together to build a stable mobile telecommunications environment by dramatically reducing downloading time for heavy multimedia files and increasing battery life for users’ mobile devices. 

 

"Together with CA (Carrier Aggregation) and eICIC (enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination), TM-9 will provide a solid technological basis for maximizing service quality and performance in the LTE-A environment," said Kang Jong-ryeol, Senior Vice President and Head of Network Technology R&D Center of SK Telecom. "SK Telecom will continue to cooperate with Ericsson to develop innovative technologies that bring greater convenience and value for customers."