April 23, 2024

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Virtual reality devices are displayed at an SK Telecom showroom set up at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. (SK Telecom)

South Korea’s top mobile service and device suppliers are set to introduce their latest future technologies involving advanced artificial intelligence and next-generation networks at the world's largest mobile tech show, slated to kick off Monday.

At this year's Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona, Spain through Thursday, leading telecommunications firms SK Telecom and KT will put up exhibitions focused on their latest AI technologies, enabling various services to boost communication and connectivity, the companies said Sunday.

The world's largest smartphone maker by shipments, Samsung Electronics will present its newest fifth-generation solutions, along with its latest in the Galaxy S23 series, the tech giant said.

SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, said it will be showcasing its most up-to-date AI technologies, urban air mobility and 6G service, as the only Korean telco firm to set up its own showroom at the MWC.

Among the 10 AI technologies SKT will present are its hyper-scale AI model A., a Korean-language virtual assistant to provide services for people’s daily lives. Vision AI, which is applied in diverse areas including robots, security, media and health care, and Sapeon, the company’s AI semiconductor, are also among the technologies to be on display at the showroom set up at Fira Gran Via hall, SKT said.

SKT CEO Ryu Young-sang will be presenting the company’s vision on AI. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who also serves as the SKT chairman, is expected to attend the trade show for the first time to convey his support.

KT will exhibit its AI chip production and robots, along with its digital communications, or “digico,” strategy-based services, the company said.

At its booth set up at Industry City, the company will present next-generation network solutions such as AI research portal Genie Labs and its mobility solutions, KT said.

KT said it will also be presenting the AI chip producing technology of Rebellions, a South Korean AI chip developer that KT is collaborating with to build AI Full Stack, its core AI strategy. The AI infrastructure solution by Moreh, a Korean tech firm that KT has invested in, will also be on display, KT said.

LG Uplus is not setting up a booth, in the wake of recent controversies regarding data breaches and network service outages.

The third-largest wireless carrier in South Korea, LG Uplus revealed Sunday its collaboration with global IT giant Dell Technology to jointly develop an open radio access network platform to support interoperability and standardize RAN elements of different vendors to raise efficiency in building and operating communication networks.

Samsung Electronics' showroom is set up at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. (Samsung Electronics)

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics will present its latest 5G solutions at the trade show, including the next-generation 5G vRAN and the newest energy saving feature for vRAN, Massive MIMO radio and advanced chip sets.

"We supported the largest-scale commercial vRAN for the first time in the world with Verizon in 2020, and since then have been providing stable and reliable 5G services to millions of customers," Kim Woo-june, Samsung Electronics' president and head of networks business, said in a company blog post on Sunday.

"We also began our collaboration with Dish Wireless and Vodafone Group, actively expanding our vRAN footprint to new markets, including the UK, Germany and beyond."

Samsung is presenting its products and technologies at its 1,745-square-meter showroom at the Fira Gran Vira, which also has hands-on experience zones for the Galaxy S23 series.

Some 1,900 companies from 160 countries are expected to take part in this year's Mobile World Congress.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)