KT named as official telecom provider for Korea summit

By Kim Yoo-chul

KT was chosen as the official telecom service provider for an upcoming summit between the two Koreas.

“KT signed an agreement with the organizing committee for the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit which states the company is in charge of managing all things related to telecom-related services throughout the summit,” KT said in a statement, Monday. “This is an exclusive deal.”

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is poised to meet with his northern counterpart Kim Jong-un, at the third top-level summit between the two countries on April 27, at Peace House, a South Korean building in Panmunjeom, also called the Joint Security Area (JSA) inside the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas. Two previous meetings occurred in the North's capital city of Pyongyang, in 2000 and 2007.

Among the South's three main telecom service providers, KT is the only company to win the “main telecom service provider” title for all three summits. It is the country's dominant fixed-line operator.

The agreement is calling for the company to build telecom networks and relevant facilities, as well as systems in Panmunjeom, the main venue of the historic meeting, to deliver every moment captured to the global community without service disruption, according to the statement.

“KT will also install base stations supporting high-speed telecom service that will be operational within the company's fifth-generation (5G) frame to the media in KINTEX Convention Center, the main press center for the summit,” said Lee In-won, head of KT's public relations team.

Mentioning the two Koreas agreed to live broadcast key events of the historic summit, the KT spokesman expressed his hope the event will be “a huge booster” to promote its 5G technologies.

“The organizing committee said more than 350 local and overseas media registered to cover the event. More than 2,800 media personnel will be coming. KT's job is to make sure everything is perfect to help them send texts, images and pictures to their audiences from second-to-second,” the spokesman said.

The summit will be tech-centric as KT is also trying to use it to highlight its advanced 5G technology by showcasing its 360-degree virtual reality (VR) technology.

That means the event, which will go live, will be captured from different viewing angles, as a VR-backed image transferring service will be available at the main press center in KINTEX.

“Organizing these technologies this way underscores how 5G enables the summit to be captured more vividly by transmitting masses of data in real time with high-resolution quality. You don't need to actually go to Panmunjeom, as watching the 360-degree VR can make you feel as if you are present in the action of the scene or have the feeling of really being there,” the spokesman said.