It has been revealed that the mobile network operator is utilizing frequencies in the 5.8GHz band, which has been used for Wi-Fi services, in conjunction with some of its existing LTE spectrum to allow for theoretical downlink speeds of up to 600Mbps.

To achieve such speeds the company is said to have combined 60MHz in the 5.8GHz band with a 20MHz block of spectrum in an unconfirmed band, more traditionally used for LTE-based services.

LG Uplus models demonstrate the long-term evolution in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) network which supports data download speeds of up to 600 megabits per second at the company's headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, Thursday.

According to LG Uplus the 5.8GHz, unlicensed spectrum is expected to improve mobile network speed and quality because it can be used for telecom services other than Wi-Fi without restriction if the services meet the technological qualification for the spectrum.

Looking ahead, the cellco has said it plans to expand the use of the 5.8GHz unlicensed spectrum to 80MHz bandwidth with a view to realizing downlink speeds of 750Mbps. A commercial launch of the technology meanwhile is expected once handsets that will support the increased download rates are available.

Telegeography