SK Telecom takes lead in 5G competition
Employees promote SK Telecom’s 5G-enabled connected car, dubbed the T5, at the BMW driving center in Incheon. / Courtesy of SK Telecom
By Kim Tae-gyu
SK Telecom, the country’s leading mobile telephone service provider, strives to take the driver’s seat in the promising fifth-generation (5G) network to continue its dominance in the domestic mobile market.
The Seoul-based outfit announced earlier this month that it had joined hands with BMW Korea to deploy the world’s largest new-type 5G trial networking at the carmaker’s driving center at Incheon.
The mobile operator hopes to take advantage of the 5G network, which is around 100 times faster than existing technologies, to preempt the potential-laden connected car services.
On the back of the next-generation platform, SK Telecom showcased the T5, which observes road conditions enabled by the most advanced video recognition to provide notification and assisted driving to motorists.
The world’s first 5G-connected car is equipped with a 360-degree camera on the inside and outside for the control center set-up for the audience to enjoy the demonstration through large screen displays.
It also introduced a 5G-based virtual reality bus named the 5G experience bus, which provides augmented virtual reality multimedia to passengers on the move.
The company’s chief technology officer Alex Jinsung Choi expressed his expectations for the connected cars enabled by the trial networks, which were developed by joint works of SK Telecom and Ericsson.
“5G will offer much more than just faster data speeds. It will serve as a true enabler for a whole new variety of powerful services that deliver unprecedented value to customers,” he said.
“Today’s demonstration of 5G-based connected car technologies marks the very first step toward achieving fully autonomous driving in the upcoming era of 5G.”
BMW Korea’s charismatic leader Kim Hyo-joon, who has led the automaker for the past 16 years to make the brand one of the most competitive in the Korean market, concurred.
“At present, global automakers are expanding partnerships and collaborations to gain an edge in the area of future mobility realized through 5G,” he said.
“The cooperation between BMW and SK Telecom will lay the foundation for 5G-based connected car technologies, and inspire us to achieve more innovation.”
Connected cars are widely regarded as a predecessor of autonomous vehicles, which are eventual targets of so many global companies. Hence, competition to take the lead in the lucrative business is very stiff.
SK Telecom has forged a business alliance with AT&T, China Mobile, Vodafone and NTT Docomo to jointly wade into the market. Equipment makers including Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Intel and Qualcomm are also taking part.
Standards offered by the partnership were recently recognized by the third generation partnership project, which works on establishing 5G international standards to begin a 5G pilot service in 2018 and commercialize it two years after.
SK Telecom, which carves out more than 50 percent of Korea’s mobile market, is expected to substantially improve its bottom line through the new services both at home and abroad.