▶ The era of ‘GiGA in my palm’ opens with the commercialization of GiGA LTE via convergence between LTE and WiFi technologies
– Declared world’s first wireless ‘GiGA Era’ following last year’s claim of wired era for ‘GiGA Internet’
-Realizes top speed of up to 1.17Gbps which is 15 times that of the existing LTE
– Provides nationwide service of 300,000 WiFi covering 200,000 LTE base stations and 140,000 GIGA WiFi etc.
– Can be applied to all kinds of Smart applications including Mobile IPTV as well as SNS, game, contents streaming service etc.
-The existing Galaxy S6∙Edge firmware can also use GiGA LTE via update
▶ Fruition after nine month-long joint technology development with Samsung, a prelude to the advancement of 5G era
– KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu realizes ‘Wired/Wireless GiGA World’ only slightly over a year after the declaration of ‘GiGAtopia’
– Solidifies Korea’s image as IT powerhouse via the world’s first Pre-5G technology & commercialization of the service
– Gains full attention of ICT device manufacturers and service providers from all across the globe
▶ Plans to demonstrate 5G pilot service at PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics
-To open ‘5G test bed’ at KT R&D Center in Woomyeon-dong, Seoul to secure core technology and make headways in standardization
– Plans to also apply on Tokyo Olympics 2020 and Beijing Olympics 2022 (upon winning the bid) under cooperation between the three nations and provides full support
KT opened the era of ‘GiGA LTE in my palm’ after establishing the infrastructure for ‘wireless GiGA’. The feat follows its first commercialization of wired GiGA LTE in the world.
KT (Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu, www.kt.com) has commercialized GiGA LTE service by combining 3CA LTE with GiGA Wi-Fi to operate as a single network and therefore achieved a maximum speed of 1.176Gpbs which is 15 times that of the existing LTE and four times that of 3CA. Such has secured a bridgehead for the 5G era. The company announced Monday (June 15) that this latest technology which is to be presented in standardizing 5G has actually advanced the related technology by three years.
GiGA LTE is a technology that comes from internetworking convergence which is considered the core technology of 5G. It has evolved from the existing LTE-WiFi convergence technology which KT featured for the first time in the world in 2013. KT succeeded in commercializing this latest technology after conducting a close, joint technological development with Samsung Electronics since September last year. The research enabled the company to provide GiGA level speed even in the mobile environment by further advancing MPTCP (Multi Path TCP) technologythat has otherwise, remained at a basic level within the stage of standardization. An era which allows one to download a single UHD movie (approx. 18GB) in 126 seconds and 100 music titles of FLAC (approx. 3GB) in 21 seconds has arrived.
As of June this year, KT has secured 200,000 LTE base stations and another 300,000 Wi-Fi spots that include 140,000 GiGA Wi-Fi spots boasting the largest coverage among all telecommunications companies in Korea. The company plans to continue widening its coverage until end of this year.
With the latest technology being applied to not only mobile IPTV but also to all other Smart applications such as SNS, game, contents streaming service and more, customers can now make broad application of the high speed of GiGA LTE technology to fully enjoy it. Furthermore with a seamless speed it provides, one can also either upload or download heavy contents of UHD-definition.
Anyone who owns handsets that are either GalaxyS6 or Galaxy S6 Edge and subscribed to the monthly pay rate of ‘599/699/999’ (Refers to 59,900 won/ 69,900 won/ 99,900won per month) can enjoy KT’s GiGA LTE service without additional fee. In order to help the above customers fully enjoy the GiGA speed, KT will proceed with a promotion that allows the data used for GiGA LTE not to be subtracted from the set amount of data in monthly plans until end of this year.
GiGA LTE will be applied first to the handsets already released in stores: Galaxy S6 and GalaxyS6 Edge. Those who use either of the handset will get to enjoy the service with ease through firmware updates that will take place gradually. Now that these two models can allow one to enjoy GiGA-level speed, both are expected to attract even more favorable responses ahead.
In May last year KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu declared the realization of ‘GiGAtopia’ and the establishment of the world’s top Giga Infrastructure that combined wired and wireless communications. KT, following the release of ‘GiGA Internet’ in October last year and ‘GiGA WiFi home’ in March this year, opened ‘a true wired and wireless GiGA era’ thanks to the commercialization of ‘GiGA LTE’ that allows customers to enjoy the service not only at home but also while moving around.
In March this year, Chairman Hwang has also revealed in his keynote speech ‘5G & Beyond, Accelerating the Future’ at MWC 2015 held in Barcelona Spain that he would draw up a roadmap toward 5G era. All eyes around the world are now on the next step KT will take.
Aside from GiGA LTE, KT, with unified (wired/wireless) network optimized for 5G service as its basis, plans to keep up the efforts to develop core technologies such as ▲‘eMBMS’ that can transmit HD-level images efficiently and simultaneously to subscribers that are crowded in a particular area, ▲‘Massive MIMO’ which can bring together over 100 antennas to dramatically scale up the capacity of the base station, ▲‘mm Wave’ that transmits wireless data with a smaller antenna within a larger bandwidth, and finally ▲‘3D Beam Forming’ technology that can enlarge the antenna coverage by 10 folds, which are all core technologies necessary for 5G service.
KT, based on its achievement of having successfully commercialized LTE and 5G core technologies beforehand, also plans to strengthen cooperation with international organizations such as ITU and GSMA as well as that with other global players such as Samsung, Nokia, Ericsson and others. KT is making its utmost efforts as a global leader for the standardization of 5G technology.
Along with the above plan, KT seeks to open ‘5G Test Bed’ at KT R&D Center located in Woomyeon-dong, Seoul this coming July. The ‘5G Test Bed’ is to become the driving force behind KT’s securing additional 5G core technology and being chosen as the winning model for standardization. The company plans to launch the world’s first 5G pilot service based on the technology developed from this‘5G Test Bed’ at PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018.
Moreover, KT also plans to apply its advanced 5G prowess to other global events such as Tokyo Olympics set for 2020 and Beijing Winter Olympics (upon Beijing winning the bid) in 2022 under the trilateral cooperation established between Korea, China and Japan, and fully support by providing the perfect telecommunications service overall.
“KT, the leading 5G service provider in the world, has opened a prelude to 5G era by becoming the first to commercialize the GiGA LTE which is to be the centerpiece of the 5G evolution,” Oh Sung-mok vice president of KT’s network division said. “We will keep working on technological development to help customers experience faster connection in more stable way.”
For more information contact:
Lee Sun-young, Head of KT’sPR Office (02-730-6297)
Jung Woo-hyun, Head of Broadcast PR (010-7567-1017)