S. Korea's SK Telecom to launch nationwide LTE service in April

South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom said Tuesday that it will launch its nationwide long-term evolution (LTE) service in April next year in a bid to brace for surging demand for the high-speed fourth-generation (4G) technology. "We will start offering the 4G LTE service across the country from April 2012, moving up its original schedule by eight months," SK Telecom said in an e-mailed statement. The company started the LTE service in Seoul from July, originally planning to offer the service nationwide by 2013. Demand for the LTE service was expected to surge down the road as heavy data traffic for smartphones and tablet PCs can be handled through the service, which can transmit data five times faster than the existing third-generation (3G) technology. SK Telecom has secured 260,000 LTE service subscribers as of November, representing a daily increase of 15,000 subscribers since July, according to the statement. The mobile carrier expected to lure more than 700,000 subscribers for the LTE service by the end of this year.