(ATR) It certainly is not the technological coming out party of the Seoul 1988 Olympics - but Korea Telecom says its new network will lead to the next industrial revolution.
The state-owned telecom company is one of only a handful of domestic sponsors activating at the 2018 Winter Olympics. KT is presenting to Olympic spectators a tour of 5G City, a fully interactive location in the Gangneung Park that shows the connective powers of its new network.
The other domestic sponsors in the park are clothing sponsor North Face, and car company Kia, which was given permission to activate by IOC TOP sponsor Toyota.
It is a far cry from the 1988 Olympics, still widely regarded as a landmark moment for Korean technological prowess. Samsung was then just a local sponsor for the 1988 Games as were other companies such as LG. A decade later Samsung joined the TOP sponsor program, granting it ubiquity for wireless computing and communication. The Games also helped open relations between South Korea and the Soviet Union, ushering the end of the Olympic boycott era.
"The Olympics and [information communication technologies] are closely related," Mark Hyung-Joon Kim, KT executive vice president, PyeongChang 2018 division, tellsAround the Rings.
"KT has prepared for the first broad-scale 5G trial service in the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games so that the world can experience the new 5G introduced by a leading telecommunication company of Korea."
KT’s 5G network is still at least a year away from being operational in Korea. The company has set up 5G experience zones at PyeongChang and Gangneung venues, and a live site in Seoul.
Kim says his company believes the 5G network will usher in and lead a "fourth industrial revolution". The network will be able to handle downloads of 2 gigabytes per second, and be able to process the data needed for virtual reality (VR) broadcasts.
At the Games, KT is working with TOP sponsor Intel to provide the internal fiber optic networks needed to create localized 5G hotspots. For the Games it has installed hundreds of high-speed cameras around the fields of play. These cameras allow for 360 degree videos dubbed "Timeslice", so that broadcasters can adjust camera angles on the fly and create VR showcases of the events.
ATR paid a visit to the KT pavilion in the Olympic Park. The speeds of the 5G network were evident in tablets that streamed 4K videos instantly, and an interactive hockey demonstration that uploaded your motions to a Timeslice video before it ended.
But the benefits of the technologies presented will come slowly.
The network will come to Korea next year, but only under approved mobile producers. KT representatives confirmed that 5G will be available on Samsung phones first, before other devices. A representative from Intel showcasing the products said it is expected that 5G networks could start abroad in 2020, but likely 2021. What countries those networks would be available in is not immediately clear.
Kim said: "We hope that those who visit Korea, and even those who can’t, experience the high-quality telecommunication technology of Korea and enjoy the ICT Olympics. KT, with the experience of the 5G trial service in the Olympics, will lead the 5G industry by quickly building the infrastructure in collaboration with global manufacturers and telecom companies."
Written by Aaron Bauerin Gangneung
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