Gwangju City Selected as Operator for 5G Open Test Lab Project

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 19th that it has been finally selected as the Honam regional operator for the ‘5G Open Testbed Operation’ contest hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and organized by the National Information Society Agency.

The 5G Open Testbed Operation project aims to create a 5G (5th generation mobile communication) network environment and establish government work network mobile test labs and 5G optical component test labs. It will serve as an advanced base to support all commercialization processes related to 5G convergence service business for small and medium-sized enterprises, venture companies, and startups in the Honam region.

Gwangju has an optimal environment to utilize the open testbed through collaboration with the already established KOREN (Korea Research Environment Network) at the Honam Research Center of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and the bases in Daejeon and Pangyo.

This project will invest 3.6 billion KRW of national funds to build a 5G open testbed at the Honam Research Center of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and create a 5G test network for local companies, including optical communication component and content development, to support commercialization.

So far, Gwangju has achieved the remarkable feat of securing a total of 14.4 billion KRW in national funds through government digital new deal contest projects: 1.8 billion KRW for quantum information communication, a pledge project of the 7th local government term; 9 billion KRW for MEC-based 5G convergence services; and 3.6 billion KRW for the current 5G open testbed construction and operation.

Based on this, Gwangju plans to steadily prepare for the quantum information communication and 5G convergence service contest projects, which are pledge projects of the 7th local government term, and lay the foundation for realizing an artificial intelligence leading city based on information and communication technology (ICT) in 2021.

Son Kyung-jong, Director of the AI Industry Bureau of the city, said, “For Gwangju to become a representative city leading the convergence industry of 5G and artificial intelligence, a testbed capable of testing, verifying, and providing technical support for 5G convergence services and equipment is essential. The successive selections in digital new deal contest projects have strengthened the competitiveness of local companies and created a foundation for the city to stand tall as a global leader in the 5G industry by creating new convergence services.”

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