CSL and SK Telecom Korea announced that the two firms have successfully achieved the world’s first interconnection between two commercial LTE networks via an IPX supplied by Telstra International.
Following CSL’s world-first public demonstration of LTE roaming capabilities during the GSM Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong in November of last year, this further achievement represents another step towards the launch of commercial automatic LTE roaming, CSL said.
As demonstrated in the earlier trial, the LTE roaming experience has the potential to deliver up to five times the speed of existing 3G roaming, and a latency reduction of more than 90%. This represents a significantly improved service quality and an enhanced experience for LTE roamers.
“As the leading mobile operator in Hong Kong, CSL is pleased to extend our close partnership with SK Telecom to deliver LTE roaming services between Hong Kong and Korea in conjunction with Telstra International. This is expected to be one of the first LTE roaming services in the world,” said Paul Hodges, EVP for corporate, wholesale and international at CSL.
The two firms said customers will be able to enjoy data roaming speeds up to five times faster than W-CDMA. This in turn will greatly enhance customers’ roaming experience to Hong Kong.