Ericsson has won a 5G commercial contract from KT to launch commercial 5G services in Korea starting April 2019.
, Jinho Choi, vice president, Access Network Design, KT, said KT subscribers, with 5G smartphones, are set to be among the first globally to benefit from the enhanced mobile broadband enabled by 5G.
KT’s 5G commercialization use case plans covers: smart factories; safety; drones; and connected vehicles.
Ericsson 5G can enable KT to open up Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 opportunities to Korean enterprises on a global scale.
Patrick Johansson, head of Ericsson Korea, said: “We worked together to show the world what 5G could do during a major global winter sports event in 2018.”
KT deployed the first phase of its 5G network in late November 2018. KT launched 5G in the greater Seoul metropolitan area, major metropolitan cities outside the capital city and in isolated areas including Jeju, Ulleung and Dok islands.
KT aims to expand its nationwide 5G network to 24 major cities, key transport routes such as expressways, subways, high-speed railways, large universities and neighborhood shopping areas.
Nokia
KT and Nokia on February 24 signed an agreement on various 5G technologies, including NFC and network slicing to develop new applications and business models for enterprise customers.
The joint work, which will take place in Seoul later this year, includes Service Orchestration and Assurance for the 5G era, with the aim of delivering automation and new revenue opportunities, said KT Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Jeon Hong-Beom.
Cisco
Telecom equipment maker Cisco said it is transitioning KT’s network architecture to manage upcoming 5G traffic with advanced routing and automation software, intelligent analytics and machine learning.
Cisco’s new 5G mobile network platform with automated and virtualized technologies on Mobile Edge Cloud, features Mobile Packet Core, network slicing, segment routing, control and user plane separation (Remote-CUPS) and more.
The network includes a 5G routing backbone with Cisco Network Convergence System Router 6000 and ACI on Nexus 9000 switching platform at KT’s distributed data centers, said Su-Kil Lee, senior vice president of Network Research Technology Support Unit, KT.
