SK Telecom is leading the way in technological advancement by announcing the results of a demonstration of its OpenLAN base station equipment for domestic mid-sized companies.

SK Telecom announced on the 15th that it participated as a host company in the 'PlugFest' event hosted by the O-RAN Alliance and announced various verification results for base station equipment compliant with the O-RAN standard together with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), HFR, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Intel, and Keysight Technologies.

SK Telecom is a member of the O-RAN Alliance, a global alliance related to open RAN. It has reflected the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) standard in its open RAN-based 5G base station standard and announced the results of its open RAN development at MWC22 earlier this year.

Open Radio Access Network (OpenRAN) is a technology that separates the hardware and software of mobile communication equipment such as base stations and standardizes the interface between the equipment, allowing equipment from different manufacturers to connect with each other.

The 'Plugfest' that SKT participated in this time is to expand the open RAN ecosystem and to ensure openness and interoperability of base station devices and solutions that comply with the O-RAN Alliance standards.This is a global event related to open-LAN demonstrations, where member companies share their test results on sex and functionality.

SKT said that this research and demonstration is significant in that it proved the technological prowess of domestic open LAN equipment through collaboration between the mobile carrier and government-funded research institutes, domestic base station manufacturers, and global ICT companies, and made known the influence of domestic operators in the open LAN ecosystem that has been led by large global companies.

SKT conducted verification tests considering various service environments, including verification of domestic open LAN 5G base station systems, standard conformance and compatibility tests for open LAN RUs and virtualized open LAN CUs and DUs, and open LAN communication tests in indoor environments.

The demonstration work was conducted at the OpenLAN Test Lab in SK Telecom's Bundang office building and was a collaborative effort between domestic and global technology companies. ETRI and HFR were responsible for conformance testing and OpenLAN equipment, respectively, while Keysight provided the measurement RU, DU, and UE emulator equipment essential for OpenLAN conformance testing. Hewlett Packard Enterprise provided the general-purpose servers used in virtualized base stations, and Intel provided the accelerators and processors essential for base station virtualization.

Meanwhile, SKT is continuing research to lead the open RAN ecosystem, which will be a core technology for the evolution of 5G services and the foundation of networks in the 6G era. He is expanding his role as co-chair of the '6G Requirements and Services' field in the Next Generation Research Group (nGRG) of the O-RAN Alliance and is actively participating in related global collaborations.

To this end, we plan to lead the development and differentiation of open LAN technology by broadening the base through technologies such as intelligent base station control devices, cloud-specific functions based on open LAN, and technologies that link DUs and RUs from different manufacturers in various combinations.

Ryu Tak-gi, head of infrastructure technology at SK Telecom, said, “We plan to continue technological collaboration so that domestic and foreign companies can seize growth opportunities in the open RAN ecosystem, which is essential for 5G advancement and 6G evolution.”