SK Telecom CEO stresses operational safety following KT fire

By Jun Ji-hye

SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho stressed the responsibility of telecom companies Thursday ahead of the launch of the world's first commercial fifth-generation (5G) network service, calling for using a recent fire at a KT cable tunnel as an opportunity to better prepare for next-generation networks.

On the company's bulletin board, Park said the “recent incident” underlined the danger behind the bright side of a so-called hyper-connected society, apparently referring to the fire Saturday. The fire caused unprecedented network failures and interrupted communications in parts of the capital.

“We need to take the incident as an opportunity to make a full preparation to establish perfect 5G networks,” he said. “We should never forget our responsibility in operating communication infrastructure, a basis for the nation's ICT ecosystem.”

He said the upcoming 5G era will not allow even a small mistake as networks, people and their lives will be complexly combined.

“A bright future for the Fourth Industrial Revolution will only be guaranteed when the people trust the 5G infrastructure,” he said.

The fire, which burned in a 150-meter-long tunnel that housed underground network cables, created an air of gloom among mobile carriers that are preparing for the launch of commercial 5G services, Dec. 1.

SK Telecom and LG Uplus cancelled their respective media conferences scheduled for Wednesday to promote their upcoming 5G services, while KT cancelled its schedule for Thursday, amid growing controversy over the safety of communication networks.

Park called on employees of his firm to lead the ICT innovation through the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

“In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 5G will become the aorta connecting people and devices, while AI will become a brain that analyzes complicated data and finds an optimal solution,” he said. “This technology will become the core competitiveness of SK Telecom.”

The nation's top mobile carrier said the first domestic client of its 5G service will be Myunghwa, a car parts company. Myunghwa will adopt SK Telecom's 5G and AI technology to verify the quality of its products.