SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics said they will demonstrate a record mobile transmission rate of 7.55Gb/s using ‘3D beamforming’ antenna technology at Mobile World Congress next week.

The antenna technology, the companies said, compensates for high propagation loss at millimeter-wave frequencies by producing a pencil beam and steering the direction of radio signals.

Millimeter-wave frequency bands have not generally been used for cellular communication due to the high propagation loss. However, as the frequency bands below 6GHz become more saturated, mobile operators are pushing to develop new technologies that can make use of ultra-high frequency bands.

The two South Korean firms will also showcase what they call “full dimension MIMO” that uses tens to hundreds of antennas. The current LTE-Advanced standard uses a maximum of eight antennas.

The companies also said they plan to strengthen their cooperation to develop key 5G technologies, with the goal of being the first to commercialise 5G in 2020. They signed an agreement in October to start joint research on 5G network technology and service development.