Leading the global IoT market by securing an early market lead through cooperation with Huawei
Korea's First NB-IoT Open Lab Opens, Providing Testbed Environment for Manufacturers and Developers

LG Uplus and Huawei have joined hands to promote global joint cooperation in NB-IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things). With this, LG Uplus plans to actively pursue the creation of a global NB-IoT ecosystem and commercialization through strategic cooperation with overseas companies, following domestic partners (KT).

LG Uplus held a press conference with global telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei (www.huawei.com) at the LG Uplus Sangam building in Seoul on the 21st and announced global joint cooperation between the two companies regarding NB-IoT.

Through this collaboration, the two companies plan to pursue key initiatives including: supporting approximately 100,000 core IoT products such as chipsets and modules; jointly establishing an open lab to support technology and equipment development for domestic and international ICT companies; and supporting the global expansion of manufacturing and service companies.

Lee Sang-min, Executive Vice President and Head of Technology Development at LG Uplus, emphasized, “Through cooperation with Huawei, we plan to commercialize NB-IoT, an international standard technology for connecting all things to a network, early in Korea and expand into the global IoT market. To this end, we will provide comprehensive support across all areas, from chipsets to marketing, at the NB-IoT Open Lab.”

"We are very pleased to establish the first NB-IoT Open Lab in Korea in partnership with LG Uplus," said Zhu Cheng, President of Huawei's Cellular IoT Product Line. "Huawei is continuously investing heavily and making efforts to lead NB-IoT technology innovation and commercialization through a deep understanding of mobile IoT networks, extensive cooperation with carriers and device manufacturers, and the establishment of an open ecosystem."

Establishment of an NB-IoT Open Lab to support commercialization by providing technology development, workspace, etc.
LG Uplus and Huawei unveiled the NB-IoT Open Lab built inside the LG Uplus Sangam building on this day.

The NB-IoT Open Lab, the first of its kind in Korea, was jointly established by the two companies to provide a test verification environment with pre-integrated devices for industry partners, including terminal, service solution, and system integrator companies, and to perform various functions for the future development and application of NB-IoT technology.

The NB-IoT Open Lab provides a comprehensive total process, ranging from the planning stage, which includes materializing business and service ideas and modeling technology linkages and business models between SMEs, to the concretization stage, which includes equipment/technical support such as chips/modules and network integration personnel support, and to the production of prototypes using 3D printers and the utilization of both companies' sales channels.

In particular, the two companies plan to actively promote the revitalization of the NB-IoT industry by providing approximately 100,000 NB-IoT chipsets and modules to industry partners for free through the NB-IoT Open Lab. The joint agreement between the two companies to distribute approximately 100,000 NB-IoT chipsets and modules for free is interpreted as a bold decision to fully pursue future growth businesses and generate results.

Innovative products from excellent small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) certified through the NB-IoT Open Lab can be applied not only domestically but also to Huawei’s global NB-IoT network established worldwide, which is expected to serve as a good stepping stone for future global expansion. The two companies also plan to support the promotion of the global NB-IoT industry by actively promoting the innovative products of domestic SMEs to mobile operators around the world through their global networks.

Meanwhile, Huawei is accelerating the development of smart NB-IoT devices and applications through the NB-IoT Open Lab. Last April, the world's first NB-IoT Open Lab was established in Newbury, UK, and an active NB-IoT industry ecosystem is being built through collaboration with various solution partners in China, the Middle East, Europe, and around the world.

LG Uplus anticipates that NB-IoT will become a global technology standard and has been operating an NB-IoT forum optimized for industrial IoT, established in November 2015 with global telecommunications and equipment companies.