5G Commercialization
SK Telecom and KT are intensifying competition to take the initiative for commercialization of 5G mobile telecommunications on which future growth engines are depending on. A war without gun fires is being waged in order to preempt the world's first commercialization of 5G and secure the initiative for the overall industry ecosystem.
According to relevant industries on November 10, the 5G telecommunication system 20 times faster than fourth-generation long term evolution (LTE), is expected to accelerate an era of smart homes, smart factories, smart cars, VR services and remote medical services by combining with the Internet (IoT). People are paying attention to the moves of SK Telecom, KT, and other leading global telecom companies as they began to find new future growth engines instead of simple communication services by developing new services that satisfy users’ five senses, such as connected cars (ICs combined with intelligent automobiles) and 360° virtual and augmented reality.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is working on setting 5G international standards with the goal of a 5G pilot service in 2018 and commercialization of 5G in 2020. It is the international standardization process for 5G in which after 3GPP establishes detailed technical specifications, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is a communication specialized body of the United Nations, finally establishes international standards.
Therefore, SK Telecom and KT formed the TSA, a technical cooperation body for a 5G pilot service with Verizon of the United States and NTT DoCoMo of Japan in February last year and are developing wireless communication standards for a trial service. In addition, 15 companies including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile and Intel have created a cooperative body for 5G standardization, and SK Telecom is the only Korean company taking part in the organization.
“Currently, we are pursuing a two-track strategy that leads the two fields of 5G element technology development and 5G standardization,” an SK Telecom spokesperson said. In September, we completed a test to verify handover technology among 5G ground stations at 28GHz in an outdoor environment.” In addition, SK Telecom's 5G technology is recognized in system architecture and design, he said.
KT advanced the target year of its 5G commercialization by one year. To this end, KT developed the KT 5G-SIG standard with Samsung Electronics, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Intel. Initially, KT planned to provide the world's first 5G pilot service at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games with this technology and then launch a commercial service after the international standardization of the 3GPP, a private mobile telecommunication standardization organization in 2020. However, with certitude that the 5G-SIG will become an international standard, the company moved up its time for commercialization.
Earlier KT succeeded in making a commercial call via a 5G communication network using the standard of “KT 5G-SIG” with Samsung Electronics on October 26. Since November 3, KT has been conducting a test to interlock a terminal with a 5G ground station in partnership with Nokia.