KT, one of South Korea’s top three mobile carriers, showcased a number of new technologies based on the ultrafast 5G network service at this year’s Mobile World Congress, the industry’s largest annual gathering, held in Barcelona, Spain, from March 2-5.

KT chairman Hwang Chang-gyu delivered a keynote speech, titled “5G and Beyond, Accelerating the Future” in which he shared the company’s latest 5G-based ICT technologies and vision for the 5G era.

Industry experts say that the commercialization of 5G technology -- 1,000 times faster than the current LTE or 4G technology in use today -- when fully developed, will make possible revolutionary technologies such as ultrahigh definition, 3-D and hologram videos as well as the Internet of Things.
 

KT lent a hand in recreating what gadgets connected to a 5G network would look like and do by displaying the company’s various 5G-based technologies in development at this year’s MWC.

The most popular item at the KT booth was a 3-D hologram smartphone which featured a person walking around on top of a smartphone. The next-generation smartphone enables users to fully surf the Web under the same conditions as a personal computer as well.

The mobile carrier also unveiled its latest IoT technology such as the Olleh Giga Home Fitness, which calculates a user’s fitness level and calorie burn through a wearable microsensor connected to a personal device. The Smart Mirror, which collects useful information through IoT sensors such as the weather and traffic situation, drew a large crowd at the booth too.

Moreover, KT issued a joint statement with China’s China Mobile and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, calling for regional cooperation for the effective development of 5G technology at the meeting for the Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement, Asia’s biggest consultative body on mobile technology.

The three companies agreed to establish a 5G task force within the SCFA’s Technology Working Group to improve future cooperation on 5G technology in Northeast Asia.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)