KOREA Country Of Honour
performance and other immersive video content and VR games, where viewers can have first-person, 360-degree experiences.” Kwon also believes that the premium quality of the VR images will inspire content-makers to start producing high-end short-form video content featuring immersive media. “In the next five years, interactive entertainment will further increase to enable customer participation beyond merely viewing,” he says.
5G TV and video: SK Telecom SK Telecom subscribers have been able to access its 5GX Multiview shows since 2019. The service allows individual viewers to select their preferred angle, from close-ups to bird’s-eye views, when watching streamed professional baseball games, live football, golf tournaments, esports competitions, the KBS show Music Bank, and the Idol Star Athletics Championships series from broadcaster MBC, plus immersive experiences in VR and AR. SK Telecom’s Kim predicts 5G will also influence on-location live broadcasting: “The wireless shooting/producing/distributing process using 5G is the only alternative that can replace the legacy fixed-line broadcasting infrastructure, especially for events such as a marathon or golf tournament, where you need to cover a wide area with mobility.” The company’s 5GX MediaLenz, scheduled to launch this year, uses AI to extract any data related to a show (the meta-data), from statistics to background information, spontaneously for the viewer. Kim adds: “It provides various information on a video, such as casting, location, background music and the filmographies of the cast. We use AI technology to automatically extract metadata from a video, and offer them on the right scene, in the right context, even without our audience turning on the service while watching.”
5G + LG U+ LG U+, the third major player in Korea’s 5G telecoms space, is investing heavily in 5G VR/
AR and other immersive content, while also expanding its efforts internationally. It recently joined a global initiative called XR Alliance with other international telecoms conglomerates. The other participants include China Mobile, Canada Bell and Japan-based KDDI. Canadian immersive-content production house Felix & Paul Studios is also involved. In August, LG U+ announced the launch of what is said to be the world’s first mass-produced 5G-powered AR glasses with Nreal, the Chinese MR tech specialist.
5G, gaming and comms Korea’s telecoms goliaths see 5G networks supporting the fast-growing video-gaming market, which research company Newzoo says will be worth almost $160bn by this year’s end. KT recently unveiled GameBox, a cloud-computer game service that enables gamers to play large files of data-heavy video games on 5G smartphones (they have traditionally been played on powerful desktop PCs and consoles). GameBox comes at a time when global tech giants Apple, Google and Microsoft are in the throes of launching cloud-based gaming services (respectively called Arcade, Stadia and the forthcoming Project xCloud). Meanwhile, SK Telecom has joined forces with Microsoft to offer a Project xCloud 5G mobile-gaming service in Korea. Furthermore, Korea’s 5G telecoms triumvirate will be using their new ultra-rapid networks to enhance consumer communications. For example, KT’s award-winning Narle is a “social videotelephony” service that allows groups to meet socially via their 3D avatars. It is expected to be a hit during the pandemic, since it enables fans to meet and greet their idols at a time when social-distancing makes physical contact impossible. SK Telecom has introduced a similar venture in VR called Virtual Social World.
Country Focus• 34 • OCTOBER 2020
Samsung shipped more than 6.7 million units of its Galaxy 5G mobile devices worldwide last year
State of the 5G market By June this year, Korea boasted more than 7.4 million paying 5G subscribers, according to the country’s Ministry of Science and ICT (information and communications technology). With a population of just over 51 million, Korea has more than 69 million mobile-phone connections and has always been a pioneer in mobile-content development. A 2019 survey by the Korea Information Society Development Institute concluded that 90%-plus of those questioned already watched on-demand streaming-TV shows on their smartphones. Korean electronics-manufacturing conglomerate Samsung not only shipped more than 6.7 million units of its Galaxy 5G mobile devices worldwide last year, accounting for a 53%-plus global market share, but it is already working on 5G-powered tablets and 5G 8K TV sets.
