The first domestic company to hold a 'Giga Drone Racing' competition


Competitors in the '1st GiGA Drone Racing' introduce drone racing in front of the racing stadium

KT successfully held the 'GiGA Drone Racing' competition, the first of its kind among domestic companies, at 1:00 PM on the 27th at the Garden Five Central Plaza in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

Drone racing is a new concept leisure sport where you compete against each other with drones. The biggest feature is that you can watch the race from a 'first-person view (FPV, First Person View)' using a camera mounted on the drone, allowing you to feel the speed of the drone. The 'GiGA Drone Racing' course created at Garden Five this time is receiving a lot of attention from drone enthusiasts as it is a city center race in Korea where there is no dedicated race track.

KT is actively utilizing drones in the ICT convergence industry, such as by utilizing drones in the construction of a new concept mobile base station solution, 'Drone LTE', and in the construction of a maritime safety communication network. This competition was held to introduce a new sport, drone racing, to the general public, and to publicize that KT is applying various new technologies to drones to promote national safety and welfare.

In this competition, 24 top domestic players selected through a preliminary ranking match participated and competed fiercely for a total prize money of 20 million won. Hundreds of people flocked to Garden Five to watch 'GiGA Drone Racing' despite the cold weather. In particular, the 'Drone Academy' set up next to the stadium provided an opportunity to experience drone flying, which received a hot response from people in their 20s and 30s.


'GiGA Drone Racing' contestants control their drones and compete in a racing match

KT Marketing Division IMC Director Shin Hoon-joo said, “We have prepared the ‘GiGA Drone Racing’ competition, which is recently gaining popularity among people in their 20s and 30s, where they will compete in speed using drones so that they can naturally experience KT’s different level of GiGA service,” adding, “We will make various attempts so that drone racing can become a popular sport and grow into a new culture, rather than just a one-time event.”

Meanwhile, the competition was broadcast live on Naver and YouTube’s SPOTV channel. KT’s Giga Internet network was used for the live broadcast on this day to transmit the drone’s speed without interruption. In addition, on January 16th next year, the competition will be recorded and broadcast for 90 minutes, the longest in the history of drone racing competitions, on the cable SPOTV channel.

In the 1st GiGA Drone Racing' competition, Song Geun-mok (Team: D.RUSH/Gyeonggi Suwon) was crowned the first champion. Song Geun-mok also won first place in the 'D1 Korea-China Drone Racing' competition held in Shenzhen, China last October.

Song said, “I am very happy to have won the most competitive competition I have ever participated in. “I hope that drone racing will continue to become a leisure sport that more people can enjoy,” he said.

Posing at the awards ceremony for the ' 1st GiGA Drone Racing' competition . From the left, Kim Myeong-seon (2nd place . Team : D.RUSH/ Gyeonggi Ansan ), Song Geun-mok (1st place . Team : D.RUSH/ Gyeonggi Suwon ), Shin Yong-gyeom (3rd place . Team : Team Ninja/ Gyeonggi Yongin )