KT – Cisco team up for 5G network

“5G is still just a concept rather than a reality, but being proactive means thinking ahead of anticipated trends”

By Kim Yoo-chul

Korean telecommunications giant KT said Thursday that it aims to jointly develop a fifth-generation (5G) network with U.S.-based networking giant Cisco Systems (Cisco) under new corporate initiatives being pursued by CEO Hwang Chang-gyu.

“While 5G is still just a concept rather than a reality, you should keep in mind that being proactive means thinking and acting ahead of anticipated trends. By strengthening partnership with Cisco, KT plans to develop highly-advanced 5G wireless technology,” said a KT executive by telephone.

The remarks come after Cisco CEO John Chambers said on the sidelines of the ongoing Mobile World Congress technology fair in Barcelona that the Internet of Things (IoT) will be a big part of the 5G wireless technology.

In a statement, KT said Oh Sung-mok, head of its network unit, discussed with senior executives at Nokia Solution & Networks, Ericsson and Cisco how to collaborate for the development of 5G wireless technology.

“Oh agreed with officials of Cisco and others to develop the next-generation wireless technology,” said the statement, adding KT has successfully developed the so-called “heterogeneous network,” allowing it to provide its services to customers regardless of spectrum and frequencies.

The 5G technology will help facilitate a world where everything is connected and network download speeds will likely be 20 gigabps (Gbps) or faster. Huawei of China said that 5G will offer 1,000 times the capacity of current networks and deliver peak data rates of at least 10 Gbps.

The Chinese company also said that 5G networks will stimulate the rollout of virtual cloud computing platforms, and boost IoT connections to between 50 billion and 100 billion by 2020. But 5G will become a reality around 2020, according to KT officials and officials at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP).

“KT is active in more talks with key members of the ‘Carrier WiFi Summit’ as standardization bodies are beginning to take action for 5G wireless technology,” said the KT executive.

On a related note, KT became the top local carrier in terms of the quality of fourth-generation (4G)-based long-term evolution (LTE) wireless technology in a survey by market research firm OpenSignal.

In a separate press release, KT said its LTE downloading speeds were 21.3 Mbps, which is placed sixth among 40 leading global telecom companies. KT ranked higher than its local rival SK Telecom in the survey.

“We are impressed to see that KT was recognized as the most-trusted local telecom company, which provides the fastest wireless Internet,” said Jeong Seung-hyuk, a company spokesman.