[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] SK Telecom announced on the 10th that, together with Nokia, it has installed the country's first cloud-based Open RAN (Open Radio Access Network) virtualized base station in a commercial network and confirmed stable 5G service speed and coverage performance through field testing.
Open RAN is a technology that separates the hardware and software of mobile communication equipment such as base stations and standardizes the interface between equipment, allowing devices from different manufacturers to interoperate.
SKT and Nokia have been continuously conducting joint research on Open RAN base stations, including developing a cloud-based virtualized base station interoperable with 5G 64 TRx equipment early last year. This time, they installed it in a commercial network for the first time in Korea to demonstrate 5G performance. The two companies plan to continue research to enhance 5G performance using Open RAN base stations.
Additionally, SKT and Nokia have succeeded in developing and verifying an intelligent base station controller (RIC) capable of automatic traffic optimization. They developed technologies to distribute traffic among base stations and optimize packet latency according to service types, applying these to the intelligent base station controller, thereby confirming improvements in 5G service quality.
The intelligent base station controller collects real-time data such as the number of simultaneous users and traffic volume per base station and distributes traffic from heavily loaded base stations to adjacent ones. Utilizing this allows efficient management of traffic in spaces where many people gather simultaneously, such as large stadiums and concert halls, providing stable service and enhancing perceived quality.
In an Open RAN environment, base stations implemented with general-purpose hardware can utilize various software. By optimizing and modularizing the software installed on base stations, various functions can be selectively applied or executed, enabling efficient equipment operation.
Moreover, Open RAN technology allows network construction without being tied to specific manufacturers, making it suitable for selecting customized software according to customer demand or applying cloud-based AI services to the network.
SKT continues related research and activities to lead the Open RAN ecosystem, which is a core technology for the evolution of 5G services and will form the foundation of 6G era networks.
In addition to this demonstration, SKT participated as a host in last year's ‘PlugFest’ event organized by the O-RAN Alliance, presenting various demonstration results on base station equipment compliant with O-RAN standards. SKT is expanding its role as a co-chair company in the ‘6G Requirements and Services’ field of the O-RAN Alliance’s next-generation research group (nGRG). It also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan’s NTT DOCOMO in November and is cooperating with them.
Furthermore, through Open RAN, SKT plans to establish a foundation that allows equipment from major manufacturers to interoperate smoothly in the future, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises with technological capabilities to participate in the network equipment market.
Ryu Tak-gi, head of SKT’s Infrastructure Technology Division, stated, “Open RAN is important for evolving into an intelligent network in the AI era and is a core technology necessary for the advancement of 5G and 6G services. We will continue efforts to lead open ecosystem-related technologies with global partners and create opportunities for capable domestic small and medium equipment manufacturers to grow.”
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