KT opens 5G-connected village near Winter Olympic venue

By Lim Chang-won Posted : December 20, 2017, 16:18 Updated : December 20, 2017, 16:18

[Yonhap Photo]


SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Aju News) -- A 5G-connected showcase village made its debut for the first time in the world Wednesday in an isolated high-land rural town near the venue for South Korea's first Winter Olympics.

KT, a major South Korean telecom company, opened the village in Daegwanryeong, a remote mountainous county known for highland crops and ranches, in a ceremony attended by government officials and organizers of the Winter Games in the eastern ski resort of Pyeongchang.

Because of its proximity to the main Olympic venue, the village will be used for foreign visitors to experience South Korea's advanced 5G technology.

At its center, a two-story 5G cafe was built with red bricks to provide information using a combination of hologram, augmented reality (AR) and MR, a hybrid of AR and virtual reality as well as images captured by autonomous drones.
 

[Yonhap Photo]


Outside the cafe, visitors can test electric vehicles to tour a nearby ranch, and the village has various facilities using a 5G network such as smart cabinets and a video conference system.

"In this village, we will show how 5G technology changes the future life," KT CEO Hwang Chang-gyu said in a statement, adding KT will lead the standardization of 5G technology.

Competition is getting fierce among South Korean and foreign tech firms to commercialize a 5G communication network. Because of its fast speed, many tech firms find it suitable for transferring and analyzing a vast amount of data.

KT will set up a 5G network on an expressway from Seoul to Pyeongchang to demonstrate its new technology to Winter Olympic visitors. It plans to provide real-time (virtual reality) footage of the Olympic games in full HD definition.
 
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