KT Corp. and Samsung Electronics announced that they had established the world’s first 3GPP-based nationwide public safety LTE (PS-LTE) network. The 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) is a body consisting of various organizations that establish cellular communication technology standards. The two leading South Korean companies essentially joined hands to enhance the country’s real-time accident and natural disaster response system.
As real-time communication requires a reliable network connection, the partners aimed to develop solutions that support communication between numerous institutions, enabling them to respond to emergencies quickly and efficiently. In particular, KT and Samsung opened a PS-LTE network for major cities, rural areas, public offices, tourist sites, and more.
Establishing Mission-Critical Networks
Since the new network operates in the 700 Megahertz spectrum, it delivers high-speed and stable connectivity for first responders. Moreover, the PS-LTE network provides critical communication covering eight sectors and more than 330 public safety agencies. Some of the institutes involved in the network include paramedic services, the police, the military, firefighting organizations, and power providers.
Besides rapidly notifying over 240,000 first responders during emergencies, the PS-LTE network also interconnects with Korea’s LTE-Railway and LTE-Maritime networks. KT and Samsung constructed three control centers in Daegu, Jeju, and Seoul, integrating a dual system to counter system failure. Aside from offering a real-time unified communication platform, the next-generation, high-performance PS-LTE network guarantees data reliability and secures operational continuity.
Samsung also applied its Mission-Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT) to the network, improving its data and video delivering and multimedia broadcast capabilities. According to KT, the public safety network could effectively prevent traffic spikes and handle real-time communication between over 2,500 devices. KT also added that the country’s previous emergency response network could only support a 1,200-device communication.
“Samsung is proud to take part in building the world’s first nationwide PS-LTE network based on 3GPP standards in Korea, leveraging our end-to-end PS-LTE solutions,” said Kim Seung-Il, VP of Samsung Electronics’ Network Business. Kim also stated that Samsung would continue developing and launching advanced PS-LTE technologies to improve the South Korean PS-LTE network. Additionally, Samsung aims to meet the highest reliability, performance, and security PS-LTE standards through its new infrastructure and solution developments.
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