KT and Nokia Unveil World's First LTE-Based New Technology, 'Ultra-Low Latency eMBMS'

KT (Chairman Hwang Chang-kyu, www.kt.com) announced on the 2nd that, together with Nokia, it has succeeded in developing and demonstrating the world's first 'ultra-low latency eMBMS' technology capable of simultaneously transmitting HD video to multiple users with a latency of less than one second.

'Ultra-low latency eMBMS,' successfully developed and demonstrated by KT and Nokia, is a technology that drastically reduces latency compared to the existing 'LTE eMBMS.' It is an innovative technology that simultaneously transmits multi-channel services, providing HD-quality video and various information to a large number of subscribers gathered in specific areas such as large concert halls and sports stadiums, with a latency of less than one second.

In particular, 'ultra-low latency eMBMS' holds great significance as the first successful achievement in development and demonstration following the agreement between the CEOs of both companies regarding development cooperation on a next-generation 5G network structure for early 5G commercialization during KT Chairman Hwang Chang-kyu's visit to Nokia headquarters last May.

Accelerated the era of real-time video transmission

The technology demonstration was conducted at the Nokia Research Lab in Munich, Germany, by transmitting HD camera video to a smartphone and checking the time required for playback. The demonstration was successful as it took less than 1 second from camera video input to smartphone playback.

Also,'Ultra-low latency eMBMS' has laid the foundation to provide ultra-high-definition content more quickly in the upcoming 5G era by applying Mobile Edge Computing technology, which places local cloud servers at base stations to reduce the latency of requesting and receiving services, thereby providing customers with seamless and optimized services.

'Ultra-low latency eMBMS' can be utilized in various fields, such as rapid video transmission in spaces where many users gather, like the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and performance venues, and remote video transmission in disaster situations. It is also expected to be used in future 5G services that require fast response speeds, such as autonomous vehicles and intelligent transportation networks.

KT, which has opened a 5G R&D center and led the development of 5G technologies such as millimeter wave, Massive MIMO, D2D, and dual connectivity, as well as next-generation LTE technologies, has laid the foundation to gain an advantage in LTE quality competition and the development of next-generation 5G wireless technologies to be introduced in the future by successfully demonstrating 'ultra-low latency eMBMS' for the first time in the world.

Lee Dong-myeon, President of KT Convergence Technology Institute, said, “Through the successful demonstration of this ‘ultra-low latency eMBMS,’ we have laid the foundation for providing ultra-low latency services, a key element of the 5G era.” He added, “Going forward, we will strive to accelerate the 5G era and lead 5G technology development by applying this technology across various fields.”