No Year-End and New Year Communication Disruptions... Top 3 Telecom Companies Begin Intensive Management (Comprehensive)

Maximum 25x Increase in Text Message Sending...Pre-Check Completed
Deployment of Mobile Base Stations and 2,000 Experts Mobilized

An SKT employee is inspecting a base station. Photo by SKT

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Soo-yeon] The three major mobile carriers have prepared special communication measures and begun focused management ahead of Christmas and the year-end and New Year holidays, when traffic surges.

On the 20th, SK Telecom announced that it has completed the expansion of 5G and LTE base station capacity in year-end and New Year’s traffic-congested areas such as Christmas and major event venues, famous sunrise and sunset spots, major highways, and terminals. Additionally, mobile base stations will be deployed in key areas to respond accordingly.

In particular, at the year-end rollover point, the number of multimedia message service (MMS) transmissions is expected to increase about 25 times compared to normal times, so pre-capacity and system inspections have been completed.

Furthermore, to respond to the year-end period, a special communication situation room covering affiliated services such as T map and A. Dot will be operated, and specialized personnel from subsidiaries, affiliates, and partners will be deployed to monitor communication services 24 hours a day.

KT announced that it will operate a network intensive management system from today until January 9, 2023.

KT has applied special response measures to provide stable services to customers during the network intensive management period. In addition, an emergency recovery temporary task force (TF) will be operated with about 2,000 KT network experts working daily for intensive monitoring and rapid recovery.

Prior to this, KT designated about 100 locations nationwide where crowds gather as special management areas, including famous sunset, sunrise, and bell-ringing ceremony sites where various events take place during the year-end and New Year holidays, as well as near the Seoul Myeongdong Shinsegae Department Store main branch, which has been a hot topic on various SNS platforms. They completed the expansion of wireless communication base stations and pre-service quality optimization work.

Meanwhile, to prepare for cyberattacks targeting the year-end and New Year holidays, the real-time monitoring and response system for DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks will also be strengthened. Efforts to block and monitor in real time smishing messages and voice phishing scams impersonating Christmas gifts and New Year greetings will be intensified to minimize customer damage.

Park Jong-ho, Executive Director of KT Network Control Headquarters, said, “As the endemic situation fully unfolds, many customers are expected to wrap up the year and make New Year’s resolutions at famous places nationwide,” adding, “KT will do its best to manage quality so that communication services during the year-end and New Year holidays can be provided stably.”

A KT network expert is inspecting a base station in a busy downtown area expected to be crowded. Photo by KT

LG Uplus announced that it has established special communication measures such as deploying mobile base stations at event venues, expanding traffic capacity, and operating a 24-hour comprehensive situation room in preparation for the year-end and New Year holidays.

LG Uplus is preparing to ensure customers can smoothly use communication services such as data and voice, and will have over 2,000 personnel on standby nationwide. At the Magok office in Seoul, a comprehensive situation room capable of emergency response in case of an emergency will be opened to begin 24-hour intensive monitoring.

Previously, LG Uplus pre-inspected 5G and LTE base stations in bustling areas expected to see increased network traffic at year-end and expanded traffic capacity, and optimization work was carried out based on this. To prepare for possible failures, field personnel have been deployed in important key areas and are on standby for immediate dispatch.

Additionally, at bell-ringing ceremonies, sunset, and sunrise event locations expected to attract many tourists due to the COVID-19 endemic, mobile base stations and mobile repeaters will be deployed to respond to increases in mobile communication call volume and data traffic.

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