Huawei and LG Uplus partnership for IoT business.

Models demonstrate LG Uplus' narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) products in the NB-IoT Open Lab at the telecom company's office in Sangam-dong, western Seoul, Monday. LG Uplus and Huawei have jointly opened the lab to support smaller partners here in developing and testing NB-IoT devices and services. / Courtesy of LG Uplus.

Huawei, the world's largest network equipment provider, is solidifying its long-term partnership with LG Uplus to jointly push for the narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) business, the two companies said Monday.

The Chinese network business giant pledged to give some 100,000 NB-IoT chipsets and modules to small- and medium-sized enterprises that are willing to participate in their joint NB-IoT business platform, aiming to boost its presence in the rapidly growing business-to-business (B2B) IoT service market at home and abroad.

Though Huawei has already established partnerships with other global telecom companies for the NB-IoT business, it has specifically chosen Korea and LG Uplus to offer the free chipsets and modules.

Huawei's cellular IoT product line head Zhu Cheng underlined that this is because the company has high hopes for the potential of Korea's IoT market.

"We are providing the free chipsets and modules only to LG Uplus because we believe Korea has the greatest influence around the globe in the area of IoT," Cheng said during a press conference in Seoul, Monday. 

"We will be able to succeed anywhere in the world if we successfully establish an ecosystem for IoT here. If we do, we can also reach out to global markets alongside our partners in the Korean IoT industry."

On Monday, Huawei and LG Uplus jointly opened the NB-IoT Open Lab at the telecom company's office in Sangam-dong, western Seoul. At the laboratory, partners of companies in the mobile device, services and system integration industries will be able to develop and test their products and services.

Huawei opened the first NB-IoT Open Lab in Newbury, Britain, under cooperation with Vodafone earlier in April. Since then, the company has established six more labs around the globe and is working with more than 30 partners.

"We will continue to support LG Uplus to help them become the leader in the IoT market," Cheng said.

Earlier this month, LG Uplus said it will team up with KT to jointly push for the NB-IoT network service business, against SK Telecom which has adopted the LoRa technology for the same business category.

The nation's third-largest telecom company said it will start establishing its NB-IoT network in the Seoul area in January next year, aiming at launching the service in the first quarter. It plans to complete a nationwide network, based on its existing long-term evolution network and a roaming network chain with KT, within the next year.

Thanks to its wide network coverage, long battery life and low battery consumption, the NB-IoT is expected to be one of the most widely adopted technology standards for the Internet of Small Things (IoST) services, according to the telecom company.

LG Uplus said it will foster an NB-IoT industry ecosystem in Korea by supporting smaller partners to join in the business.

"As we believe that the NB-IoT is the most economic, efficient and universal technology for the IoST industry, we will provide all the support through the open lab with Huawei to speed up commercialization of actual services," LG Uplus Technology Development Division head Lee Sang-min said.

LG Uplus also said it will actively back up its smaller partners in entering global business through the NB-IoT Open Lab.

"Our partners that are providing devices to the Home IoT platform are already drawing great attention from telecom companies in China and Japan and some of them are under detailed discussions," LG Uplus' converged home business senior vice president Ahn Sung-jun said. 

"This means that Korea's small- and medium-sized enterprises will start supplying products directly to foreign telecom companies. We will support all our partners in the NB-IoT sector the same."

ABC USA network 29 programs coming to South Korean LG Uplus mobile suscribers.

South Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier LG Uplus Inc. said Wednesday it has clinched a deal with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) to distribute the U.S. broadcasters programs through mobile platforms.

Under the plan, LG Uplus will offer various ABC programs to its subscribers, including "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" A total of 29 programs will be provided starting this week, the company said.

LG Uplus also signed a similar deal with NBC Universal, another U.S. media giant in September.

"We will continue efforts to provide broadcasting content from around the globe to subscribers and expand ties with overseas players," the company said.

The programs will also come with English subtitles to help local users understand the content and improve their language skills.

The carrier's latest move is seen as part of its efforts to attract more subscribers in the South Korean market, of which SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp. take up around 80 percent.

LG Uplus earlier said NBC Universal's dramas distributed through its platform posted 1.5 million views around a month after their release. The programs include "Heroes: Reborn" and "12 Monkeys."

Around 65 percent of the viewers were male, aged mostly in their 30s and 40s, LG Uplus said, adding that its mobile platform was able to attract older age groups to American dramas.

Samsung Electronics and LG U+ Signed MoU for Next Generation 5G Technology.

Samsung Electronics announced that it will partner with Korean telecommunications operator LG U+ to jointly develop 5G technology, in a move that will further strengthen both companies. The agreement will also enhance Korea’s global leadership in 5G research and help drive the creation of standards for the next major phase of innovation in mobile telecommunications.

“This partnership will help us drive R&D, which in turn will power innovation in the global telecommunications industry. 5G networks will be based on the convergence of a whole host of incredible new technologies, from more advanced antenna systems to Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Bringing together Samsung’s cutting-edge technology and LG U+’s expertise and understanding of end-users preferences as well as application and service trends, will be a powerful combination,” said DongSoo Park, Executive Vice President of R&D in Network Business at Samsung Electronics.

“Together we will be well-prepared for the 5G era. Through close collaboration and by leveraging LG U+’s extensive network management understanding and Samsung’s technology leadership, we hope to lead the next generation of telecommunications technology, not only in Korea, but around the world,” added Sun Tae Kim, Executive Vice President of LG U+’s Service and Development Division.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony on June 25, which marks the formal start of the partnership, was attended by almost 100 senior staff from both companies. The event also featured an in-depth discussion of how the two companies will collaborate; as a result, both sides agreed to a shared ‘5G Readiness Target’ for the year 2020.

The collaboration will focus on three areas that are of critical strategic importance to 5G’s future:

1) 5G global spectrum identification and acquisition

Identifying and acquiring appropriate spectrum for 5G use is a key goal of the partnership, with particular emphasis on high-frequency bands, due to its relatively high availability and potentially enormous data capacity. Given the lack of industry-wide agreement on 5G spectrum, Samsung and LG U+ have identified an urgent need to drive early global standardization. Together, the companies will contribute jointly to efforts to determine the best spectrum – subject to the consensus of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) IMT-2020 group.

Samsung Electronics and LG U+ will prepare a collaborative white paper on 5G spectrum standardization and will appear jointly at key industry events to address this issue. As part of their submission for the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), the South Korean telecommunications industry and government have proposed the following six 5G spectrum bands as suitable for global usage: 27 – 29.5GHz, 31.8 – 33.4 GHz, 37 – 42.5 GHz, 45.5 – 50.2 GHz, 50.4 – 52.6 GHz, and 64 – 74 GHz.

2) 5G technology co-development

To establish a leadership position in 5G, Samsung and LG U+ will collaborate on future research and development. For example, the companies will co-develop Full Dimension Multiple Input Multiple Output (FD-MIMO) antenna technology, in order to deliver 5G’s throughput and data capacity potential.

Other joint R&D areas will include network architecture design, a review of key network elements and new millimetre wave (mmWave) radio technologies – both for network infrastructure and user devices. Performance targets in this latter area include vastly improved throughput capabilities and smooth service, even at speeds of up to 500km/h.

Lastly, co-development will also focus on Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technologies, with the aim of sharply enhancing end-to-end operational efficiency and flexibility. Advances in these areas are considered essential to drive performance and support the next generation of Internet-of-Things based devices and services.

3) 5G technology global standardization

The partnership will focus not only on the determination of 5G spectrum, but the standardization of 5G technologies as well.

To this end, Samsung Electronics and LG U+ will actively participate in several key global standardization bodies, including the ITU’s IMT-2020 promotion group and the 5G Forum in Korea. These organizations are important platforms from which Samsung and LG U+ can jointly promote the adoption of 5G spectrum and technology standards. Together, the companies will actively contribute to the advancement of Korea’s ICT leadership efforts.

As detailed in Samsung’s 5G Vision whitepaper, the advent of 5G mobile networks is expected to exponentially increase cellular data throughput capabilities while drastically reducing network latency and operational costs. However, if this potential is to be realized, it will be essential to strike industry partnerships and collaborate during the ongoing development of 5G technology.

In addition to LG U+ in South Korea, Samsung has established partnerships with several operators across the world’s leading LTE markets, all with the aim of accelerating the R&D of 5G technology. These include collaboration with operators in Japan, Europe, and South Korea.

Samsung has also taken an active role in multiple 5G exploratory and standardization organizations, including the previously mentioned ITU’s IMT-2020, the World Radiocommunication Conference, and the 5G Forum in South Korea – as well as the Europe-focused 5G Public Private Partnership (5G PPP).

South Korea: Nokia and LG Uplus to join for 5G network.

LG Uplus Corp., said Monday it has agreed with Nokia to join hands in developing the fifth-generation (5G) network technologies, which is set to emerge as the new industrial standard in the near future.

Under the memorandum of understanding (MOU), LG and Nokia will cooperate in developing technologies related to the long-term evolution advanced (LTE-A) and 5G networks, and also seek to find more efficient ways to transition from LTE to more advanced networks.

The two will also verify and test the new network together and roll out various joint projects together, LG said.

"We hope to acquire core technologies of the 5G network that will overcome the limits of the LTE network through the strategical alliance with Nokia," LG Uplus said in its release.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will be available in GOLD in Korea for now.

WorldWide tech & SCience. Francisco De Jesùs.

Samsung have applied the gold color on the frames of the body, home button, speaker, back camera, and S pen. To be exact, there are two new colors: ‘gold + white’ and ‘gold + black’. 

The Galaxy Note3  in gold will be available in Korea via SKT, KT, and LG U+ carriers in January 4th.

ZDNetKorea

Buy the Samsung  Galaxy Note 3 Factory Unlocked on Amazon store:

SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus started the sales of the Samsung Galaxy SIII LTE,today.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs. 

SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus started the sales of  the Samsung Galaxy SIII LTE, today.

The three domestic mobile carriers  SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus  started sales of the LTE version, today Monday July 9. 

SK Telecom started sales of the third generation (3G) model last month, but industry officials expect the main sales battle between telecommunications firms to start with the LTE handset as most subscribers are jumping ship to the new network.

The marketing feud between the three and their heavy investment in building nationwide LTE networks have cost billions of won and market analysts speculate that their numbers for the second quarter maybe the worst ever.

Company representatives expect the release of the Galaxy S3 will increase revenue for the second half of the year until other new products from domestic electronics firms Pantech and LG Electronics are released in the fall to further boost earnings.

Samsung have a yet to name a sequel to the Galaxy Note, planned for the fall, and Apple is predicted to release a successor to the iPhone 4 around the same time. 

The S3 is the latest model in the Galaxy series that has made the firm the No. 1 shipper of handsets worldwide. 

Both the 3G and LTE models of the phone run on Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and have a 1.4 gigahertz quad-core processor and a 4.8 inch super AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) screen.

The LTE model supports digital media broadcasting and boasts a higher memory and connectivity speed.                                

LTE: South Korea: LG Uplus launched a nationwide LTE network.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

LG Uplus carrier completed and launched a nationwide LTE network last week.

 The operator has spent over 1.25 trillion won ($1.1 billion) on the network. The cellular service will be available in 86 cities around the country. 

Company claims to cover 99.9 percent of the Korean population. The company also plans to launch an additional LTE network in October using the 2.1 GHz frequencies spectrum, which it acquired in a government auction last July.

LG Uplus is aiming to attract over 4 million LTE service subscribers by the end of 2012. Earlier this month operator announced plans to launch voice-over-LTE service in October. VoLTE is an initiative started by the GSM Association in 2010 to develop a worldwide standard to carry voice services over the new 4G networks.

LTE: Korea: Ericsson to build LTE network for LG UPLUS.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Ericsson has signed a commercial contract with LG U+, a South Korean wireless service provider, to build a LTE commercial service network. The contract was signed via their local entity, LG-Ericsson.

With this deal, LG U+ will be able to support the existing CDMA and 4G LTE mobile service concurrently. Commercial service will start in July 2011.

Ericsson will be responsible for building LTE network in Seoul and metropolitan area with a population of 25M and will supply Evolved Packet Core network, LTE base stations and optical repeaters for access and transmission. The project will start in May this year and be completed in 2012.

At the initial stage, the service will be provided through a dongle that allows LTE network access. Once LTE-dedicated handsets are available, the LTE service is expected to prosper.

"Ericsson has successfully introduced the world's first LTE commercial service and accumulated unrivalled technology, experience and know-how. We are embarking a vital project for the future of LG U+. We will not only bolster our partnership with LG U+ but also contribute to the LTE development in Korea," said Mats H Olsson, Head of Region China and North East Asia.

In September 2010, LG U+ had a benchmarking test to select LTE equipment vendors and named Ericsson as supplier of Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and LTE radio base station (eNodeB).