Unprecedented Online School Opening... Emergency Support System Activated in the Telecommunications Industry

[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] Ahead of the unprecedented 'online school opening,' the telecommunications and broadcasting industries have also been put on high alert. This is due to concerns that chaos might occur amid the surge in data traffic caused by remote classes. The number of users attending classes through the EBS site has already surpassed 5 million, increasing more than 20 times the daily average.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 5th, from the 9th, elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide will gradually begin online school openings, and traffic reaching about 6 million users is expected to temporarily concentrate. This is an increase from the 5 million users announced last week by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Education. Last year, the average daily number of users attending classes via EBS was only about 230,000. Traffic due to simultaneous connections is also estimated to increase by at least three times.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the telecommunications industry currently maintain that internet traffic is at 45-60% of domestic infrastructure capacity and is not problematic, but they are concerned about the possibility of issues arising in various places due to the unprecedented online school opening.

Last month, the EBS two-week live special lecture homepage experienced system overload due to a surge in visitors. In particular, it has been pointed out that problems such as server capacity overload may occur during the process of teachers uploading high-capacity learning videos at schools rather than internet connections at each home. Since March, the Ministry of Education has been expanding the simultaneous connection capacity of the learning management systems (LMS) EBS Online Class and e-Hakseupter to about 3 million users to prevent disruptions in remote classes.

The telecommunications industry has also responded immediately. KT has expanded traffic capacity and strengthened real-time monitoring systems, responding in real time to traffic fluctuations from six regional control rooms nationwide. SK Broadband is prioritizing capacity expansion in traffic bottleneck sections and is conducting additional expansions. LG Uplus has also completed the first phase of network capacity expansion.

Additionally, the telecommunications industry supports minimizing student inconvenience by providing EBS educational content in real time on IPTV and establishing a remote education infrastructure using various channels. KT, SK Broadband, and LG Uplus have newly prepared broadcast channels in the 300s, 750s, and 260s respectively, allowing real-time viewing of grade-specific educational content without additional charges.

Furthermore, the three mobile carriers?SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus?have introduced support measures so that students can use major educational sites including EBS on smartphones without worrying about data usage or charges. Following the temporary measure until the end of May allowing data-free access to educational sites such as digital textbooks and e-Hakseupter, from the school opening day on the 9th, EBS educational sites will also be included in the support list. Any general student, parent, or teacher can freely use smartphones and tablets without concerns about data usage or fees.

Meanwhile, the online school opening will begin in stages: 3rd-year middle and high school students on the 9th, 1st and 2nd-year middle and high school students and elementary school students from 4th grade and above on the 16th, and elementary school students from 1st to 3rd grade on the 20th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.