South Korea’s KT Corp has reportedly implemented downlink speeds of 220Mbps over its LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network in the Irwon-dong and Suseo-dong regions of Gangnam, in southern Seoul. According to the JoongAng Daily, however, in order for consumers to benefit from the increased speeds they will require LTE-A compatible handsets, with such devices widely expected to be launched in the first half of this year. Commenting on the development, an unnamed KT spokesman was cited as saying: ‘We will begin offering the service to subscribers immediately after the handset is launched.’

KT is also said to have developed its mobile broadband technology further in order to provide downlink speeds of 300Mbps by tying up two 20MHz blocks of spectrum. The operator is expected to introduce the technology at the Mobile World Congress due to be held in Barcelona, Spain at the end of next month.