Standalone 5G Coming To Autonomous Cars Near You

South Korean telco KT has launched a 5G standalone commercial service for smartphone users and businesses to foster new technologies for autonomous cars and smart factories.

The company said the standalone (SA) service would serve as an opportunity for 5G to be applied to other industries and 5G smartphone users.

"We have prepared a SA service to provide customers with 5G that can give them a new value," KT's network strategy department head Kim Young-in said in a statement.

The SA uses batteries longer than NSA and can provide a faster response rate. By utilizing the characteristics of 5G base stations, which are densely built, KT said that the SA would provide more sophisticated disaster text services from the end of this year after consultation with related agencies and system development.

The SA service will improve the quality of network slicing technology that allows corporate customers to develop various services more easily and quickly.

In January, KT established an integrated core network that can accommodate standalone technology without installing new equipment.

KT has developed an open 5G beam-forming base station in the 28GHz band through cooperation with Movandi, a U.S. startup.

Beam-forming focuses power to desired users to form beams, expand coverage and increase speed in the 28GHz band.

South Korea has been a leader in 5G rollouts, and SK Telecom has also completed preparations for a SA 5G service, applying technologies such as international standard-style network slicing and mobile edge (MEC), which provides ultra-low delay and high-speed services regardless of physical distance.

Image credit: iStockphoto/metamorworks