South Korea’s largest mobile operator SK Telecom (SKT) and Samsung teamed up to develop a millimeter-wave (mmWave) system that allows them to test, verify and improve wireless transmission performance between base stations and handsets.

The firms said the system, which is at SKT’s R&D centre, will enable them to dramatically boost data transmission speeds, and they are already looking into applying mmWave technology in downtown areas.

As a key enabling technology for 5G, mmWave technology uses 30GHz or higher frequency bands to deliver significantly faster data transmission speeds.

SKT and Samsung have been working together since October 2014 to develop technologies that can use spectrum above 6GHz, considered to be difficult to use for cellular communications due to high propagation loss.

The two firms demonstrated a mobile transmission rate of 7.55Gb/s using ‘3D beamforming’ antenna technology at Mobile World Congress in March.