SKT Presents 6G Evolution Vision at Global Forum

SK Telecom announced on the 6th that it presented the future network evolution direction for 6G at the IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network) Global Forum, a global next-generation communication standard consortium.

From the 5th to the 7th of this month, SKT participated in the 6th regular member meeting of the IOWN Global Forum held in Munich, Germany, where it presented the SKT 6G White Paper outlining the core requirements and evolution direction of 6G, as well as the demonstration results of next-generation mobile fronthaul technology with low power consumption and high capacity in preparation for 6G wired networks.

The IOWN Global Forum was established in January 2020 with the purpose of researching, developing, and standardizing next-generation communication technologies centered on 6G wired networks and data centers. It includes 125 major global tech companies and research institutes such as NTT, Sony, Intel, and Microsoft. The IOWN Global Forum holds two plenary meetings annually. SKT has been the only domestic telecommunications operator to join as an official member of the IOWN Global Forum since 2022 and has been actively participating.

At the plenary meeting of the IOWN Global Forum, SKT introduced the key contents of the 6G White Paper released last August through a keynote speech on the first day, presenting the core requirements and evolution direction of 6G as well as the linkage direction with IOWN in the 6G standardization process.

Additionally, SKT announced the development and verification results of next-generation mobile fronthaul technology with low power consumption and high capacity in preparation for 5G evolution and 6G wired networks. These results were proposed by SKT at the IOWN Global Forum workshop held in Paris last February and were verified together with Nokia and HFR.

SKT stated that the verification showed a reduction in power consumption to about one-third compared to existing 5G fronthaul technology. The company plans to verify next-generation mobile fronthaul technology linked with Open RAN technology in the future.

At the IOWN meeting held in Osaka last April, SKT also contributed and presented cases of 6G-related technology demonstrations (interworking demonstration between SDN platform and next-generation open optical transmission equipment) and the contents of the 6G White Paper and energy-saving white paper jointly developed with NTT DOCOMO.

Besides IOWN, SKT is active in various global standardization organizations and forums such as the O-RAN Alliance, NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks), 3GPP, and ITU. Notably, SKT is the only domestic telecom operator participating in NGMN, where it published the 6G technology white paper, and serves as co-chair of the requirements study group (RS-01) under the nGRG, the 6G research group of the O-RAN Alliance, leading early ecosystem formation activities for 6G. SKT is also pushing forward preparations for the 6G future network, including being the first domestic telecom company to publish a ‘6G White Paper.’

Ryu Tak-gi, head of SKT’s infrastructure technology division, said, “SKT is striving to present the initial technology evolution direction for 6G by actively participating in various global forums and standardization activities related to 6G, including IOWN,” adding, “We will continue to expand collaboration with global telecom operators and manufacturers to lead the development of evolution technologies for future networks with 6G.”