SK Telecom in pact with Samsung for 5G network development

SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics have joined hands to conduct joint research on 5G network technology and service development.

Both SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics are already playing a big role in the advancement of 4G network technology. SK Telecom is one of the leaders in the 4G service space.

The strategy is to lead the 5G telecom network space which will open for commercial use in 2020. Telecom network vendors such as Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Networks are also aggressively spending in the 5G network area.

This kind of strategic partnership will define the focus of the 5G eco-system and bring clarity for developing the right devices for 5G telecom operators.

Kyungwhoon Cheun, senior vice president and head of Communications Research Team of DMC R&D Center at Samsung Electronics, said: “The 5G communications system needs an ecosystem where operators and manufacturers cooperate in areas of related standards, devices, network equipment, new services and etc.”

Samsung and SK Telecom in 5G network development

As part of the agreement announced on Monday, SK Telecom and Samsung will cooperate mainly to share 5G vision with standardization groups and technology forums in and out of Korea, define and select frequency band suitable for implementation of 5G technology.

In addition, both companies will conduct R&D and experiment on enabling technologies including small cell, massive MIMO and next-generation modulation / demodulation, and develop services of 5G and IoT.

5G is expected to support a 1000 times more data capacity as LTE at speeds higher than 1Gbps per user over a densely-connected network.

SK Telecom is considering to develop different immersive services available anytime and anywhere based on giga-bit level data rates. The services include AR (Augmented Reality) / VR (Virtual Reality), tele-presence and realistic service such as hologram.

The Korean telecom operator also plans to develop Advanced-IoT technology to enable hyper-connected services that connect all objects and humans for interaction without limitation of time and place.

Alex Jinsung Choi, executive vice president and head of SK Telecom’s ICT R&D Division, said: “We expect the two companies, mobile carrier and mobile network manufacturer, will share vision for 5G through the joint research, thereby generate synergy effect in the development of the next generation telecommunications technology.”

Baburajan K
[email protected]