“The standardization of technologies is a prerequisite for successful deployment of the 5G network in the market,” said Lee Dong-myun, KT‘s chief technology officer, in his keynote speech under the theme of “Paving the road to 5G,” at the ITU conference to be held from Monday to Thursday in the Hungarian city.

“KT will boast its advanced tech with the planned test run of the 5G network services during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics,” he added.

The CTO also said market players across different industry segments should work together to develop technologies for the Internet of Things, a network that allows objects including electronic devices and sensors to communicate with each other.

Celebrating the 150th anniversary since the establishment of the ITU, an ICT agency under the United Nations, this year’s annual ITU conference is the largest in size with around 60 ICT ministers and vice ministers from around the globe participating in the four-day event. Around 150 telecom firms and institutes from 50 nations will exhibit their ICT technologies during the event.

KT has been trying to spearhead the development of 5G technologies and the standardization works with its global partners.

The Seoul-based wireless carrier held a consultative meeting with CTOs of mobile carriers from Korea, Japan and China in April. The company also launched the “5G R&D Center,” in Seoul, in which the mobile carrier collaborates with telecom equipment suppliers Samsung Electronics, Ericsson-LG, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei for development of next-generation network technologies.

Hwang Chang-gyu, the CEO of KT, serves as a member of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, a group of government officials, corporate executives and academics in the world’s ICT sector committed to increasing Internet access around the world. The commission is organized by ITU and UNESCO.

By Kim Young-won(wone0102@heraldcorp.com)