Alcatel-Lucent joins hands with Korea Telecom to deliver 5G mobile networks

NEW DELHI: Alcatel-Lucent has signed an agreement with South Korean telecom services provider, KT, under which the companies will collaborate to test technologies for the introduction of 5G mobile networks.

“KT recognizes Alcatel-Lucent as a global leader in vRAN and SDN. We are eager to use their vRAN and SDN technology to help us implement the 5G architecture that we have defined in our GiGatopia Vision,” said DongMyun Lee, CTO and Senior Vice President of KT.

“Alcatel-Lucent has a long-history of innovating to solve the world’s biggest communications challenges. We are fully aligned with KT’s vision and committed to help KT in its strategic network evolution. We see NFV technologies, such as vRAN as a vital step in this evolution and by working with KT we are further underlining our leadership in this area,” said Chi Il Yoo, Head of Alcatel-Lucent Korea.

The collaboration will initially focus on Alcatel-Lucent’s virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) technology.

At Mobile World Congress this year, Alcatel-Lucent demonstrated how its vRAN capability could help operators dynamically meet changing customer, market and environmental demands while enhancing network performance and lowering costs.

Amid the exploding demand today for data caused by smartphones and other mobile devices, and increasingly via technologies such as ‘the Internet of Things’ and machine-to-machine networks, 5G technology promises greater speeds, capacity and flexibility, enabling mobile operators to meet the data demand in a highly personalized way.

It will also deliver a completely ‘untethered’ experience, enabling people and connected devices to access any information from anywhere and in any way they choose.

South Korea has a strong appetite for data: according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning at the end of February 2015, 72% of mobile subscribers were smartphone users. KT wants to leverage the flexibilities and efficiencies promised by 5G to offer subscribers a high-quality seamless mobile broadband experience, with new differentiated and personalized revenue-generating services.