Samsung and SKT Win 'ICT Oscar' Glomo Awards (Comprehensive)

Samsung Electronics Wins Two Awards Including 'CTO Choice'
SKT Receives 'Warm ICT' Award for Third Consecutive Year
Korean IT Powerhouse Companies Enhance Their Honor

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Samsung Electronics won two awards, including the grand prize "CTO Choice," at the "Glomo Mobile Awards (Glomo Awards)," known as the "Oscar of the ICT industry." SK Telecom also enhanced the honor of Korean companies by winning for the third consecutive year with "Warm ICT" technology for the visually impaired, developed in collaboration with a social venture company.

Samsung's 5G Virtual Base Station Wins 'Top Award'

According to industry sources on the 3rd, at the Glomo Awards held on the 2nd (local time) and hosted by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), Samsung Electronics received two awards, including the CTO Choice, which is equivalent to the grand prize, and the "Best Mobile Innovation Technology" for its "5G Virtualized Base Station" technology.

The CTO Choice selects the single "best" champion across all mobile technologies from among the winners in six major categories. During the judging process, Samsung's contribution to mobile innovation was highly evaluated. Sean Collins, the head judge, said, "The judges felt that Samsung demonstrated innovation," adding, "The 21 telecom CTOs also thought so."

Samsung Electronics' 5G virtualized base station technology is a next-generation technology that supports flexible and efficient network construction and operation by installing base station software on general-purpose servers. Lee Jun-hee, Vice President and Head of the Development Team at Samsung Electronics' Network Business Division, said, "We believe Samsung's 5G virtualized base station will enable network innovation and open the way toward next-generation networks," adding, "As a global leader in virtualization, we will redefine the possibilities of 5G network innovation and lead the journey."

SKT Contributes to Solving Social Issues

SK Telecom also won the "Best Mobile Use Case" award for the third consecutive year with the visual assistance service "Sullivan Plus × NUGU," launched together with the social venture "TwoArt." This category targets ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance)-related technologies or services that help socially vulnerable groups based on ICT technology. TwoArt's "Sullivan Plus" assists visually impaired and low-vision users in recognizing text through smartphone cameras, and its effectiveness was enhanced by combining it with SK Telecom's AI speaker "NUGU."

Huawei also received honors. Huawei won in the "Best Mobile Innovation for Climate Action" category for addressing climate change issues through ICT technology with its "Green 5G Project," and also received the "5G Industry Partnership" award. Additionally, it won in the "Best Mobile Network Infrastructure" category with its FDD Gigaband MIMO series.

Best Smartphone is the 'iPhone 13'

The best smartphone award in the device category went to Apple's 5G smartphone, the "iPhone 13 Pro Max." Samsung Electronics competed with the "Galaxy S21 Ultra" and Galaxy Z series but ceded the spot to Apple. In the "Disruptive Device Innovation" category, the Chinese company Oppo won for the hinge and display integration method showcased in the "Find N." The "Best Connected Consumer Device" category was also claimed by the Chinese company ZTE.

Although the Glomo Awards ceremony was held entirely online due to COVID-19, the enthusiasm was said to be as intense as the nickname likening it to the "Oscars." A telecom industry official noted, "The Glomo Awards are given to operators who create the best innovation and outstanding value in the global mobile industry, so the competition is fierce and winning is not easy."

Meanwhile, GSMA holds the "Global Mobile Awards" annually during the MWC period, selecting and announcing the best products across all mobile fields for outstanding innovation, hardware, software, and services.

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