SKB Consortium Announces Achievements in Quantum Cryptography Communication Technology Development

Quantum Cryptography Communication Leading Company Expresses Commitment

SK Telecom SKT Tower Exterior View

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] SK Telecom and SK Broadband announced on the 1st that they presented their achievements in quantum technology development and commercialization at the ‘Quantum Technology Industrialization Performance Presentation and 1st Anniversary Ceremony of the Future Quantum Convergence Forum’ hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Over the past two years, the ‘SKB Consortium,’ which carried out the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Digital New Deal project, has built and operated quantum cryptography communication pilot infrastructure across a total of 17 public, medical, and industrial sectors, including 6 sections in 5 institutions such as Gwangju City and Daejeon City, and 11 sections in 6 institutions such as Yonsei Medical Center, discovering and applying various application services.

This year, the SKB Consortium secured projects to build quantum cryptography communication pilot infrastructure for 4 sections from 3 institutions. SK Telecom plans to apply technology capable of transmission up to 120 km in the quantum key distribution (QKD) field, developed together with IDQ, which it acquired in 2018, along with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology, to the pilot infrastructure. Through this year’s demonstration, they have taken a step closer to building a commercially competitive network.

They also announced plans to apply ultra-precise gas sensor technology used for gas leak detection in industrial complexes. The quantum sensing technology applied to the ultra-precise gas sensor detects quantum particles of extremely small size and converts them into electrical signals, enabling detection of harmful gases in the environment at very minute levels, according to the company. Quantum sensing technology is expected to be widely utilized in various advanced fields such as autonomous driving, satellites, and biotechnology in the future.

Meanwhile, SK Broadband launched a quantum cryptography dedicated line product for enterprises on the same day. The quantum cryptography dedicated line is a quantum cryptography communication product that applies the QKD method, which uses quantum properties such as uncertainty, superposition, and no-cloning, to a dedicated line for enterprises. It is expected to provide security services not only to national agencies handling state secrets but also to public and financial institutions and companies requiring large-capacity data transmission.