“With the cooperation of Nokia and Ericsson, world-renowned communications equipment manufacturers, KT will lead the development of core technology for the 5G era. As a corporation of people, we will be well-prepared to offer the world’s first 5G mobile service at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in 2018.”
- Hwang Chang-gyu, KT Chairman
KT announced on May 31 that chairman Hwang Chang-gyu visited Nokia and Ericsson to discuss how the company could collaborate with the two communications giants, and agreed to join forces by setting up a testbed for 5G services. (image: KT)
SEOUL, June 1 (Korea Bizwire) – KT, the second largest mobile carrier in Korean in terms of subscriber numbers, will work together with global communications companies including Nokia and Ericsson to develop fifth-generation mobile services.
KT announced on May 31 that chairman Hwang Chang-gyu visited Nokia and Ericsson to discuss how the company could collaborate with the two communications giants, and agreed to join forces by setting up a testbed for 5G services.
With Nokia, KT has a strong partner for the development of FTTA technology, which is favored in 5G networks. The two companies also agreed to jointly develop mobile edge computing techniques to provide 5G services.
Meanwhile, KT agreed to cooperate with Ericsson to develop technology to simultaneously transmit data between 5G base stations, based on broadband millimeter waves. The method will make it possible to drastically reduce blind spots, by connecting a large number of small cells without interruption, thereby helping gb-level wireless services like hologram video communications run smoothly while driving.
The Korean and Swedish companies succeeded in delivering connection speeds of up to 2Gbps in a moving car in the demonstration, with plans to increase the speed to more than dozens of Gbps in the future. In addition, Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ericsson to develop and test LTE-M and IoT-related methods.
In the pursuit of its technology goals and to enrich its partnerships with both Nokia and Ericsson, KT will set up a 5G testbed at its R&D center in Seoul.
By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)
