South Korea's KT is taking rival SK Telecom to court, claiming that the latter operator is misleading consumers with claims that it has commercialized the first tri-band LTE-A network.
SK Telecom announced late last year that it has launched a tri-band LTE-A network combining 800-MHz, 1.8-GHz and 2.1-GHz spectrum.
But KT has filed an injunction accusing SK Telecom of deceptive marketing with the assertion, the Korea Times reported.
According to KT, the claim that the network has been commercialized is based on a pilot trial using 100 Samsung handsets, but Samsung has not started marketing the handset that supports tri-band LTE-A.
In a statement, KT officials said it is “absurd” to claim that the network has been commercialized in this context, and the allegedly false claim is likely to “trigger abusive competition and ultimately hurt customers' interest.”
But SK Telecom has defended the assertion, stating that the GSA's latest LTE report named SKT as the only operator to commercialize tri-band LTE-A, stating that it launched on December 29.
KT is asking the court for a complete ban on SK Telecom advertising its tri-band LTE-A network. SKT has stated that it will take legal countermeasures if necessary.