Monday, 4 September 2006

Samsung Demonstrates 4G Mobile Technology, Plans Late 2008 Launch

Samsung Electronics has demonstrated its 4G mobile technology claiming it can deliver multicell data handovers at speeds of 100 Mbps. The company demonstrated Video On demand and Internet access on the bus while the bus was in motion. The mentioned speeds were in excess of 100Mbps data speed. This fulfills the criteria laid down by the the International Telecommunication Union which defines 4G technology as a wireless telecommunications technology allowing data transfer rates of 1Gbps (Gbit per second) at stationary positions and 100Mbps in mobile circumstances. The spectrum for this technology has not been laid out and will be finalized in October 2007 with deployment to commercial status by 2010.

The demonstration took place at the Samsung 4G conference/forum held in Jeju Korea. According to Samsung, the new technology will enable users to download 100 MP3 music files in less than three seconds even while a person is on the move.

Also demonstrated was roving 1 Gbps data transmission while delivering a 32-channel HD broadcast download, Internet access, and video telephony services. Samsung claimed the roving data transmission speed is 50 times faster than current mobile WiMAX technology.

"We hope to drive development and standardization of 4G mobile technology," said Lee Ki-Tae, president of Samsung's Telecommunications Network Business. Lee added that Samsung's 4G technology will be deployed in handsets by the end of 2008.
Samsung has invested more than USD 100 million in its 4G technology, which aims to replace mobile WiMAX technology. Both Samsung's 4G technology and mobile WiMAX are based on orthogonal frequency-division multiple access. Samsung said other core technologies used in its version of 4G include MIMO and Smart Antenna.