▲ KT employees are conducting a long-distance fronthaul test in Damyang, South Jeolla Province.

(Photo courtesy of KT)



Increased network investment and operational efficiency
Rapid failure cause analysis and action possible

KT and Nokia have successfully verified the technology, laying the foundation to directly connect wireless base stations from central offices, thereby expanding coverage and enhancing the stability and convenience of wireless network operations.

KT announced on the 24th that, in cooperation with Nokia, it has successfully verified a 30km long-distance fronthaul for both 5G and LTE for the first time in Korea and applied it to a commercial network.

With this technology, it is expected that network investment and operational efficiency will be improved by increasing the centralization of DUs that process digital signals in wireless networks, and rapid fault recovery measures will be possible by eliminating travel time in the event of a failure.

Fronthall refers to the section between the RU (Radio Unit) installed at the wireless base station and the DU (Distributed Unit) installed at the local office.

RU is a unit that processes RF signals at a wireless base station, and DU is a unit that processes digital data at a local office.

Generally, data collected at the RU antenna for wireless communication is transmitted to the DU through the optical cable of the front hall.

Since the existing fronthaul supported up to 20km, it was impossible to operate the wireless base station where the RU was installed if it went beyond this distance.

For this reason, LTE and 5G coverage was provided through local offices equipped with DUs to meet the 20km front-haul distance.

In addition, when a wireless network failure occurred, there was the burden of having to dispatch personnel from the central office to the regional office to analyze the cause, and the delay in travel time made it difficult to take prompt measures to restore the network.

KT is expected to be able to resolve difficulties, such as rapid disaster recovery measures, through this technical verification.

Lee Jong-sik, Head of the Infrastructure DX Research Institute at KT's Convergence Technology Institute, stated, "This successful verification is the result of KT's dedication to differentiated research and development." He added, "Going forward, we will continue to build networks that simultaneously satisfy 5G coverage and quality, and we will also make sustained efforts in R&D for network architectures to facilitate future 6G evolution."