Earlier this year in May, the South Korean Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning (MSIP) adjusted the maximum transmit power in the 900 MHz unlicensed band from 10 mW to 200 mW, offering frequencies dedicated for wide area IoT purpose. Initially, 6.5 MHz (917 - 923.5 MHz) was offered, and additional 6 MHz (940 - 946 MHz) is scheduled to be offered in the 2nd half of the year. The de...

The big 3 operators in South Korea, ST Telecom, KT and LG U+, each with a global standard oneM2M-certified IoT platform, are now aiming for global market. There is much attention in the industry towards which platform provider can build more partnerships with SMEs and startups, which is essential to present new, distruptive ideas and services. In order for the operators to expand the marke...

During the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, 5G pilot service will be offered by means of 8-band CA that combines 8 100MHz carriers, supporting over 10Gbps on devices - more than 33 times faster than the current LTE's maximum 300Mbps. The drastic speed improvement will make features like 360 degree realistic videos, realistic content services powered by VR and AR, etc. a reality. In additio...

On June 20th, SK Telecom unveiled its strategies for utilizing the frequencies in 2.6GHz that it acquired at the last auction, and for developing more evolved next-generation network. The company has become an operator with most frequency in 2.6GHz band in the nation after acquiring additional frequency at the auction held earlier this year. Once new network utilizing these wider bandwidth...

[Issue analysis-1] IoST era begins with initiatives for a nationwide IoT network deployment IoT, the next generation growth engine in the mobile communication industry, is finally unveiled. South Korea-based SK Telecom and KT, geared up with cutting-edge IoT technologies including LoRa, LTE-M, and NB IoT, etc., are to be in fierce competition to deploy the nation's (and world's) fir...

Before we begin.. On March 10th, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) of the South Korea announced it would adjust the output power in unlicensed 900MHz band from the current 10mW to 200mW as an effort to stimulate the emerging IoT-related industry. The big 3, fueled by the announcement, are aggressively seeking ways to deploy IoT infrastructure. On March 18, SK Telec...

On March 18th, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP), a ministry of South Korean government, finally revealed its plan to hold a much overdue auction for mobile spectrum at the end of April, in 2 years and 8 months after the last one in August 2013. At the auction, a total of 140 MHz (2x70 MHz) across 5 blocks will be offered. Each of the Korean big 3 operators will have a cha...

Around this time of year, network operators and vendors are in fierce competition in introducing innovative next generation technologies and services with Mobile World Congress (MWC) fast approaching. This year, KT and SK Telecom have already been battling to present the world's first 5G technologies and services faster. On February 15th, with the MWC 2016 just one week away, Mr. Sun...

Rich Communications Service (RCS) failed to differentiate itself from existing OTT services since it appeared in the market for the first time in 2012. Its functions were disappointedly incomplete and its UX/UI was plain and unattractive compared with OTT services. It also took a long time to stabilize due to the technical complexities and operators’ slow decision making process. Wit...

[Man speaks as the same is written on the screen] Only 1 minute before the gate is closed. My daughter is upset. And I am called on the intercom. I am running to the gate. [Girl cries] Dad! Animation movie! [Man speaks as the same is written on the screen] Oh no! I forgot to download the movie. Olleh GiGA LTE! Can you please do something? Anything? [Female narrator s...

We are pleased to share with you all an interesting article contributed by Thierry Van de Velde who is technology specialist in Mobile Internet networks, architecture and solutions. Thierry Van de Velde​ Consulting Technology Specialist at Nokia, IP & Optical Networking All Articles by...

We are pleased to share with you all an interesting article contributed by Thierry Van de Velde who is technology specialist in Mobile Internet networks, architecture and solutions. Thierry Van de Velde​ Consulting Technology Specialist at Nokia, IP & Optical Networking All Articles by...

Before you read this post, we recommend you read the following articles first: Mobile Network Architecture for 5G Era - New C-RAN Architecture and Distributed 5G Core 5G network as envisioned by KT - Analysis of KT's 5G network architecture 5G and Network Slicing With 5G being actively discussed everywhere, Network Slicing certainly is one of the most discussed technologies t...

I recently heard someone in the industry saying "While LG U+'s Vice President Sang-chul Lee is into IoT, KT's Chairman Chang-kyu Hwang is so into 5G. Whatever solution you propose, if it is for KT, it has to have "5G" in its title to, at least, get attention." Of the Korea's big 3 operators, KT has been most aggressive in sharing its strategies, network architecture, core technologi...

It's been only a year and a half since we excitedly introduced the Evolution of Mobile RAN Architecture in LTE/LTE-A Era (C-RAN) last April. And today we are discussing the same for 5G era already. Key transitions from 3G to 4G included i) network architecture change from coverage-based to capacity-based, and ii) introduction of new 4G element, X2 interface. Specifically, cells became s...

Netmanias interview with China Mobile at MWCS 2015: 4G evolution (LTE-Advanced, 4.5G) technologies Part 1. LTE-Advanced ► Part 2. 4.5G (TDD+) 4.5G (TDD Evolution, TDD+) China Mobile also introduced some TDD+ (also known as TDD evolution), which can be called "not quite 5G yet, but 4.5G" technologies, in cooperation with Huawei. The figure below shows the concept of 4.5G, along...

Netmanias interview with China Mobile at MWCS 2015: 4G evolution (LTE-Advanced, 4.5G) technologies ► Part 1. LTE-Advanced Part 2. 4.5G (TDD+) Earlier in July, China hosted MWC Shanghai 2015 (MWCS 2015), and Netmanias was there as a media partner of the event, analyzing LTE evolution and 5G strategies of many global leading operators and vendors. Today, we will look into 4G and 5G...

Currently, of all 3 IPTV service providers in Korea, KT is the only one offering UHD channels, three of all: SkyUHD, the world's first UHD, launched in September 2014, and SkyUHD2 and UXN, both launched in June 2015. SK Broadband and LG U+ are currently offering UHD VoD service only, but are working hard for UHD channel launch in the second half of the year. KT has been using Elemental&...

Weeks ago on August, 4th, SK Telecom introduced commercial HP server-based EPC (4G Core) in its commercial network for the first time in Korea. This allows heavy smartphone traffic to be handled by the existing EPC-dedicated equipment, and light IoT traffic to be handled by this new HP server-based EPC. EPC (Evolved Packet Core) equipment is one of the key elements of network equipment. M...

GSLB service enables users (clients) to connect to the most optimized server among those that serve the same purpose, improving service reliability. In addition, it helps to prevent traffic from being concentrated on a small number of servers, enhancing server availability. This post will discuss the benefits that GSLB can bring to an enterprise with distributed servers, and its service logic...