SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) today announced that it has switched on its 5G network at 00:00, December 1, 2018.

To commemorate the launch of its commercial 5G network, SK Telecom held an event at Network Management Center located in its Bundang office building.

At the event, SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho said, “5G opens doors to infinite possibilities beyond our imaginations. As the ICT leader that has spearheaded the advancement of mobile communications from CDMA to LTE, SK Telecom will once again create a new future with the best 5G network.”

SK Telecom’s 5G network currently covers main areas of 13 cities and counties nationwide, including Seoul, four cities in Gyeonggi-do (Seongnam, An-san, Hwaseong, Siheung), six metropolitan cities, Seogwipo in Jeju Island, and Ullengdo and Dokdo Islands in Ulleng county.

The first call over SK Telecom’s commercial 5G network was made between CEO Park located in Bundang, Gyeonggi-do and SK Telecom Manager Park Sook-hee located in Myeongdong, Seoul. The company has also successfully completed 5G calls from Bundang to Haeundae (Busan), Dunsandong (Daejeon) and Geumnam-ro (Gwangju). Samsung’s 5G smartphone prototype was used for the calls.

Moreover, Telecom’s first 5G enterprise customer Myunghwa Industry began operating the ‘5G-AI Machine Vision’ solution today. Myunghwa is an auto parts company based in Banwol Industrial Complex, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do. The solution is applied to verify product quality. High-resolution, multi-angle photos of auto parts on the conveyor belts taken by 12 million-pixel cameras are transmitted to the cloud server over 5G network and the high-performance AI in the server instantly scans the photos to check for defects.

In addition, 5G self-driving cars began test-driving on public roads in Siheung as well as test tracks of ‘K-City,’ a large-scale test site for autonomous vehicles located in Hwaseong, Gyeongg-do. These cars were able to exchange surrounding information with the control center and traffic lights, dozens of times per second, over SK Telecom’s 5G network.

Furthermore, SK Telecom has plans to boost the 5G-AI ecosystem. Following its launch of ‘5G Global Innovation Center’ in 2015, SK Telecom plans to open ‘5G Device Test Lab’ in early this month at its Bundang office building to support small and medium-sized device manufacturers.  

CEO Park stated, “While making efforts to provide the most stable and secure 5G network, SK

Telecom will also focus on expanding the 5G-AI convergence ecosystem and generating social values.”