"If Communication Service is Cut Off Due to Fire, Make Calls and Send Texts via Another Carrier"

<기사제목>Ministry of Science and ICT and Three Major Telecom Operators to Demonstrate Roaming Among Mobile Carriers at SKT Bundang Office on the 25th

[Asia Economy Reporter Seolgina Jo] From now on, even if a specific telecom company's communication service is cut off due to a fire or other incidents, voice calls, text messages, and more can be made through other telecom companies.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the three mobile carriers announced on the 25th that they held a "Mobile Communication Disaster Roaming Demonstration Event" at SK Telecom's Bundang office. Accordingly, even if a communication disaster occurs to a specific telecom operator on the scale of a metropolitan city, 4G (LTE) and 5G users will be able to use another telecom company's 4G network like overseas roaming without any special measures. There is no need to replace the device or USIM.

In the case of 3G, if a USIM is activated at a non-disaster telecom company's agency and call forwarding service is applied, calls forwarded to the existing number can be received. Afterwards, users can apply for compensation by submitting the USIM cost and the fees used during the disaster period to the disaster-affected telecom company.

The roaming demonstration on this day was conducted by assuming a disaster occurred at KT and LG Uplus base stations and connecting KT and LG Uplus devices to SK Telecom base stations to demonstrate voice calls, wireless card payments, and messenger use. It was confirmed that users could use mobile communication services without any special device operation. The demonstrators included Jang Seok-young, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Kang Jong-ryeol, Head of SK Telecom ICT Infra Center, Lee Cheol-gyu, Head of KT Network Division, and Kwon Jun-hyuk, Head of LG Uplus NW Division.

The three carriers have each built a dedicated disaster roaming network capable of accommodating about one million lines. In the event of a communication disaster, the disaster telecom company's Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) identification number is transmitted from the non-disaster telecom company's base station to apply roaming to the corresponding device.

Vice Minister Jang Seok-young said, "Mobile communication roaming will be an opportunity to elevate the stability of mobile communication services during disasters to a new level," and added, "Since prevention is better than post-disaster recovery, please make further efforts in communication network safety management to ensure that disaster preparedness is world-class, matching the world's best communication networks."

Center Head Kang Jong-ryeol stated, "It is meaningful that the three carriers joined forces to minimize user inconvenience through disaster roaming even when communication disasters occur," and added, "We will continue to strive to provide safer and more stable communication networks."

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