SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) announced its participation in Mobile World Congress 2013 to be held from February 25 to 28, at Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain. The company has been participating in this global event for four consecutive years since 2010 to share with the world its innovative technologies and suggest a future direction for mobile operators.

At MWC 2013, SK Telecom will introduce its cutting-edge LTE network optimization technologies developed to enhance LTE service quality; demonstrate core LTE-A technologies aimed at opening the true era of LTE-A; and unveil three new ICT-based growth businesses, namely Healthcare, Solution and Media, that promise to deliver greater convenience to customers’ daily lives.

■ Sophisticated technologies and services to accelerate network evolution
In line with its plans to commercialize LTE-A network in the second half of 2013, SK Telecom will demonstrate Carrier Aggregation (CA), a technology that realizes 150Mbps data rates, using a smartphone on commercial network for the first time in the world. The company will also introduce the SUPER Cell concept that allows mobile operators to use cell virtualization technologies to enhance network capacity by minimizing inter-cell interference, ensure seamless call quality by removing handover, and benefit from cost-efficient operation of networks. At MWC 2013, SK Telecom will demonstrate SUPER Cell 1.0 using the key cell virtualization technology named Same Cell ID that can virtually minimize inter-cell boundaries and make multiple number of small cells act as one cell by allocating identical cell IDs. Moreover, it will showcase differentiated traffic management technologies and advanced network technologies including Cloud Belt, Tetra Cell, LTE Femtocell, and Giga Wi-Fi.

SK Telecom will also display sophisticated all-IP communication services such as joyn.T (RCS) and HD Voice (VoLTE). In particular, joyn.T will also be exhibited at the GSMA Pavilion, allowing visitors to experience and compare joyn services of diverse mobile carriers like Orange, Metro PCS, Telefonica and Vodafone.

■ Announces New Growth Engines: Healthcare, Solution, and Media
SK Telecom plans to promote three growth businesses, namely Healthcare, Solution and Media, by leveraging its high-speed network. The company will first focus on nurturing smart healthcare services that combine ICT and medical service to create a new type of market for healthcare services. At MWC 2013, SK Telecom will showcase FRENDTM, Health-On. Smartcare, and Patient Guide.
FRENDTM is a point-of-care testing device that uses a single drop of blood to provide immediate on-site diagnosis of cancers, cardiac diseases and hormone disorders. As test results can be quickly and securely shared between patients, doctors and healthcare providers via wireless connectivity, patients can use it as a convenience means to monitor their health, and benefit from early detection/effective management of diseases.
In January 2012, SK Telecom and Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) established a joint venture named Health Connect to develop and offer smart healthcare services by combining SK Telecom’s advanced ICT and SNUH’s medical technologies. At MWC 2013, Health Connect will introduce Health-On, an optimized self-health management solution that recommends diet and exercise plans for users based on their medical check-up results.
SK Telecom will also showcase various ICT-based solutions designed to enhance user convenience and enterprise productivity. It will unveil ’Atti’ for the first time at MWC 2013. ’Atti’ is a friendly-looking educational robot that makes learning more fun and interesting for children by utilizing cutting-edge ICT. The company will also display Smart Beam, the world’s smallest pico projector for smartphones and tablet PCs, to enable projection of diverse contents on a nearby wall or ceiling, and will seek opportunities to export the product to overseas markets. Furthermore, SK Telecom will also introduce Smart Location Guide, which is a location-based service designed to provide customers with accurate route guidance within buildings.

■ Solidifying its status as a total ICT Company through joint participation with SK Planet and SK Hynix
Since last year, SK Telecom has been taking part in MWC together with SK Planet and SK Hynix to showcase its technological strength as a total ICT company leading the areas of network, service platform and semiconductors. SK Planet will display NFC mobile payment platform, Smart Car and diverse lifestyle applications to position itself as a global service platform company. SK Hynix will exhibit its core products like mobile DRAM and NAND flash chips to facilitate its global business expansion.

■ Active participation by the company leadership and employees
SK Telecom’s top executives including CEO Ha Sung-min and employees will give presentations under various themes to introduce SK Telecom’s advanced ICT and share its extensive experience and knowhow in service commercialization.
CEO Ha Sung-min, who is serving as a GSMA board member, will take part in the GSMA board meeting to discuss with other board members current issues in the mobile telecommunications industry and measures for the future development of the overall ICT industry.
CTO Byun Jae-woan, Chairman of the NGMN Board, is scheduled to attend the NGMN board meeting and give an opening speech at MWC conference (Technology Evolution Session). Choi Jin-sung, Executive Vice President and Head of ICT R&D Division, will also attend the Technology Evolution Session to introduce SK Telecom’s effective data management technologies and suggest evolution direction for next-generation networks.
Choi Woo-yong, Manager at Core Network Lab of SK Telecom, plans to take part in the RCS seminar to be held on February 26 to present RCS service development process/ knowhow and discuss future direction of RCS with global mobile carriers. Hwangbo Geun, Tech. Leader* at Access Network Engineering Team, will present the differentiating factors and possible use cases of SK Telecom’s LTE Femtocell at the MWC conference on February 26. Kim Hyung-joon, Manager at Network Security Team, will attend Mobile Security Forum held on February 25 to introduce network technologies that are being utilized in Korea to minimize smart phone security problems.