South Korean tech leaders SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics announced Thursday their completion of the world’s first end-to-end network interworking trial of fourth- and fifth-generation networks, which will allow consumers to enjoy immersive media content while driving in the early stages of the commercialization of 5G.

The trial took place in the Euljiro area of central Seoul, where SKT is headquartered. A 360-degree virtual reality video clip was streamed live between a user in a traveling car and another in the SKT building.

SKT and Samsung used the current 4G Long Term Evolution commercial network in the 2.6 gigahertz band and a newly built 5G network using the frequencies of 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz to enable the interworking with a test device that supports both networks. 

Despite the dense urban outdoor environment conditions of closely situated office buildings, the trial went smoothly, allowing the users to experience uninterrupted video streaming when the network transitioned from 4G to 5G or vice versa.

“Interworking between 4G and 5G is a prerequisite for the early stages of 5G commercialization,” said Park Dong-soo, executive vice president of networks business at Samsung. “The interworking between 3G and 4G was the key driver to foster the 4G ecosystem and its commercialization.”

This trial served as a means to test and verify that seamless service is assured while a device moves to and from 4G LTE and 5G’s 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz networks, the companies said.

For the trial, SKT and Samsung established a virtualization network consisting of virtual 4G LTE and 5G cores with Software Defined Network technology.

“Users will be able to experience seamless communications service regardless of their location with 5G, in which the nationwide deployment of 4G will work together with base stations that support the 3.5 GHz band for wide coverage as well as the 28 GHz band for ultrahigh speed transmission,” said Park Jin-hyo, senior vice president of the Network Technology R&D Center of SKT. 

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)