No Issues with Traffic Surge During Seol Holiday... Three Telecom Companies Prepare Communication Measures

Expansion of Base Station Capacity at Train Stations, Bus Terminals, and Tourist Attractions
Video Calls Triple... Overseas Roaming Expected to Increase by 30%

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] To provide stable service during the Lunar New Year holiday period, when population movement and traffic surge, the three major telecommunications companies will conduct 24-hour intensive quality management.

SK Telecom announced that it will operate a special communication situation room from the 20th to the 24th, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. Nationwide, an average of about 1,300 specialized personnel from subsidiaries, affiliates, and partners will be deployed to monitor communication services 24 hours a day. The total number of holiday duty personnel from related companies such as SKT, SK Broadband, SK O&S, and Home & Service reaches 6,700.

5G and LTE base station capacity has been expanded mainly in areas where mobile communication traffic is expected to increase nationwide, such as train stations, bus terminals, airports, major tourist attractions, accommodation facilities, and downtown areas. They will also thoroughly manage mobile communication quality in habitual congestion sections on highways where localized data traffic increases are expected, as well as the TMAP service, which customers frequently use on their way to and from their hometowns.

Members of SKT and SK O&S conducting a preliminary inspection of network equipment near the bus terminal to manage mobile communication quality.
[Photo by SKT]

SKT predicted that the highest traffic on highways will occur on the afternoon of the 20th, the day before the holiday, on the outbound route, and on the return route on Lunar New Year's Day, and has completed pre-quality inspections and service optimization work. During the holiday period, nationwide data usage on Lunar New Year's Day is expected to reach its peak, increasing by about 21% compared to normal times.

Considering the possibility of increased movement of individuals and small groups during this Lunar New Year holiday, SKT has also completed inspections of communication infrastructure on major sections of highways and national roads, ancestral graves and public cemeteries, resorts, and camping sites.

Meanwhile, to support family gatherings using mobile phones such as untact New Year's greetings, SKT will provide free video call services to its customers for four days during the holiday (January 21?24). Based on usage patterns from past holiday free video call support, SKT expects the number of video call users during this Lunar New Year to increase about threefold compared to normal times.

International roaming used by overseas travelers is expected to increase by 30% compared to normal times during the Lunar New Year holiday, and SKT plans to provide smooth service through focused management.

Sung Jin-soo, head of SKT Infrastructure Service CT, stated, “We plan to ensure stable service operation so that customers can spend a happy Lunar New Year holiday without inconvenience.”

KT will operate a network intensive management system from the 20th to the 25th, when the holiday begins, to provide stable communication services during the Lunar New Year holiday. An average of about 1,200 KT network experts will be on duty daily, and a temporary task force (TF) for intensive monitoring and emergency recovery will also be operated.

Prior to this, KT completed service quality optimization work such as quality inspections and capacity expansions of communication infrastructure in more than 1,000 nationwide locations where traffic is expected to increase during the holiday period, including KTX stations, airports, shopping centers, and downtown areas.

In particular, this year, anticipating a sharp increase in overseas travelers, KT is focusing on monitoring roaming traffic and has pre-arranged cooperation systems with foreign telecommunications operators.

Meanwhile, to prepare for cyberattacks targeting the year-end and New Year period, KT will strengthen real-time monitoring and response systems against DDoS attacks. They will also intensify blocking and real-time monitoring of cyber fraud activities such as smishing messages and voice phishing impersonating New Year's greetings to minimize customer damage through focused monitoring.

LG Uplus will enter an emergency operation system from the 20th to the 24th during the Lunar New Year holiday period to support customers in smoothly using communication services such as data and voice. To quickly respond to emergencies that may occur during the holiday, a comprehensive situation room will be opened at the Magok office in Seoul for 24-hour intensive monitoring.

Since many customers are expected to travel to and from their hometowns due to the lifting of social distancing during this holiday, LG Uplus is conducting 5G and LTE optimization work at major nationwide hubs to ensure smooth use of 5G and LTE services anywhere in the country. Previously, LG Uplus pre-inspected and measured the quality of 5G and LTE base stations located on nationwide highways, rest areas, KTX and SRT stations, bus terminals, and airports. Based on this, they are focusing on quality management so that users can use the network without inconvenience.

Considering the characteristics of the holiday, where data traffic and call volume are expected to increase in specific areas, LG Uplus plans to deploy field personnel in important hub areas and maintain a standby response posture. Additionally, by analyzing the annual trends of call volume and data usage during holidays, they will also prepare in advance to ensure smooth data use at major highway toll gates, rest areas, and habitual congestion sections.

Furthermore, LG Uplus expects an increase in U+tv video-on-demand (VOD) and over-the-top (OTT) service viewing during the Lunar New Year holiday and is preparing for increased traffic by expanding cache server capacity so that users can enjoy various content without inconvenience.

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