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&...

KT announced that it succeeded in commercialization of the world’s first wireless 1 Giga service, called “GiGA LTE". The service is known to have achieved speeds 15 times faster than the current LTE, through combining two heterogeneous networks: LTE and WiFi. Previously, the company has released “GiGA Internet” in October 2014, and “GiGA WiFi Home” in March 2...

It has been over a year since KT Chairman Hwang Chang Kyu’s declaration of his vision GiGAtopia on May 20, last year. The main idea of GiGAtopia was that the company would make both of its wired and wireless networks giga-class, through investment of KRW4.5 trillion for three years to come. We thought it would be a good time to check how they did for the past one year, and what innovation...

KT IPTV (4K UHD) Service (1) UHD Live TV (2) 'Most Popular Channels Now' (9-Channel View) (3) 4-channel View (4) UHD VoD Success or failure of UHD service lies in how much UHD contents the service provided can offer. Being well aware of that, KT has gradually secured more contents, for example, through upscaling of Full HD movies to UHD quality (e.g. 'The Admiral: Roarin...

KT IPTV (4K UHD) Service (1) UHD Live TV (2) 'Most Popular Channels Now' (9-Channel View) (3) 4-channel View (4) UHD VoD KT also offers 4-channel view service. This service is pretty similar to LG U+'s and has the following two options: Operator-selected channels: Offers a set of 4 channels selected by operator (sports, shopping, over-the-air and movies). User-selected...

KT IPTV (4K UHD) Service (1) UHD Live TV (2) 'Most Popular Channels Now' (9-Channel View) (3) 4-channel View (4) UHD VoD You probably have been switching channels, looking for something interesting to watch, until you finally settle down for one. For viewers like you, KT offers a new way of selecting channels through a service called "Most Popular Channels Now". At the company...

KT IPTV (4K UHD) Service (1) UHD Live TV (2) 'Most Popular Channels Now' (9-Channel View) (3) 4-channel View (4) UHD VoD KT launched the world's first UHD IPTV service in September 2014. Now it has over 100,000 subscribers as of April 2015, closing trailing LG U+ who has attracted around 125,000 UHD subscribers over the same period of time. What differentiates KT's UHD...

For the rest of the Q3 2015 issue of Korea Communication Review magazine please click here Hear from CTO of Korean Telcos ► 1. Dr. Dongmyun Lee, CTO of KT: Leading 5G through wired/wireless Integration 2. Mr. Changwoo Lee, CTO of LG U+: LG U+'s Mobile Network Evolution Strategies 3. Dr. Jingsung Choi, CTO of SK Telecom: SK Telecom's 5G Evolution Strategies...

For the rest of the Q2 2015 issue of Korea Communication Review magazine please click here As a sequel to the previous post (KT's demonstration of LTE-H and LTE-U), this post will introduce another pre-5G/5G technology, LTE-TDD, showcased by KT at MWC 2015, covering three relevant demonstrations: 9-carrier CA, LTE-UL/DL CA, and triple mode cell. 3. LTE-B (LTE-Beyond) Figure...

For the rest of the Q2 2015 issue of Korea Communication Review magazine please click here At Barcelona's Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015, KT demonstrated a variety of new 5G, Hetnet and IoT technologies and services. Of all those presented, below we will focus on our most interested topics, WiFi-related pre-5G technology, LTE-Hetnet (LTE-H) and LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U), and see how t...

For the rest of the Q2 2015 issue of Korea Communication Review magazine please click here SKT and LG U+ to create more customer value, and KT to lead technology innovation through standardization...

As noted in the previous post, currently there are two types of user authentication in the Wi-Fi networks operated by Korean operators: IEEE 802.1X-based and captive portal-based authentication. 802.1X-based authentication targets primarily mobile devices with an operator's USIM card, whereas captive portal-based authentication to be discussed here is used to attract users without a permane...

[Netmanias] Dr. Heung-Ryeol You, General Manager at KT's Network Strategy BU, is in charge of spectrum strategies, and is sharing here what he learned at the 21st ITU-R WP 5D meeting closed early February. One of the main topics at the meeting was the 8 key parameters for 5G. Below let's see what has been discussed at the meeting. Before we begin, we would like to thank Dr. You for shar...

We will talk about call flow in IEEE 802.1X-based user authentication used in Korean network operators' Wi-Fi networks. Before we continue, let's take a look at what Korean operators' current Wi-Fi authentication are like first. KT provides the following SSIDs in its Wi-Fi Hotspots: ollehWiFi (with lock icon): Users are authenticated based on the IMSI stored in USIM of their...

For the rest of the Q1 2015 issue of Korea Communication Review magazine please click here In Korea, LTE service began back in July 2011. Then in June 2013 when LTE subscription exceeded 40% of the nation's total mobile subscription, LTE-A was commercialized for the first time in the world. Here are some facts about Korea's LTE. As of December 2014, i) Korea recorded an LTE sub...

This article was published in Korea Communication Review magazine (KCR Q1 2015). For the rest of the Q1 2015 issue of Korea Communication Review magazine please click here The 'giga Internet era' has just begun, finally offering speeds of 1 Gbps - 10 times faster than the 100Mbps. For the past 7 ~ 8 years, the maximum Internet speeds for all access networks (FTTH, LAN and XDS...

This article was published in Korea Communication Review magazine (KCR Q1 2015). For the rest of the Q1 2015 issue of Korea Communication Review magazine please click here 1. What is "LTE-Unlicensed"? And what's the big deal about it? 2. Korean Operators' Position (KT, SK Telecom and LG U+) 3. Discussion on Regulatory Requirements 4. LTE Advocates vs. Wi-Fi Advocates 1. W...

Earlier in May, KT's Chairman Chang-gyu Hwang announced the company's GiGAtopia vision (see What's GiGAtopia envisioned by Chairman Chang-gyu Hwang of KT?). Then soon in June, KT made another announcement that it would commercialize gigabit Internet service in the second half of the year. So, it has been predicted that the company would begin the service probably at the end of t...

On May 20, Chairman Chang-gyu Hwang of KT (with sales of KRW 23.8 trillion in 2013) announced that "KT will open up a new age of GiGAtopia by investing KRW 4.5 trillion (USD 4.4 billion) in GiGA FTTH, GiGA Path (heterogeneous networks convergence technology that combines LTE and Wi-Fi networks), and GiGA Wire (copper wire-based transmission technology) for the next three years." Later on Ju...

In the past two years, some new technologies have been introduced in Korea, apparently increasing broadband Internet speeds 3~5 times faster, from 100 Mbps to 300~500 Mbps, instantly. It certainly is fascinating in that such speed improvement was achieved without the hassle of re-cabling construction in apartment buildings. Because 100 Mbps had seemed unbeatable for almost a decade, this sure w...