SKT and SK Broadband Introduce First 800Gbps-Class High-Capacity Wired Network

SK Telecom and SK Broadband are taking proactive steps to prepare for the artificial intelligence (AI) era by introducing Korea's first 800Gbps-class high-capacity wired network into their next-generation backbone network.

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On the 3rd, SKT and SK Broadband announced that they recently completed a trial opening of an 800Gbps-class wired network on the commercial line between Seoul and Busan. This move is aimed at proactively responding to the rapidly increasing data traffic driven by 5G, AI, and cloud services. Additionally, SKT has completed a trial opening of a 1.2Tbps ultra-high-capacity wired network at its Incheon office, where its data center is located.

Both companies have been expanding the introduction of high-capacity wired networks to cope with the rapidly growing data traffic. Based on this achievement, they plan to secure an 800Gbps-class nationwide network system and build an advanced backbone transmission system. Through this, SKT and SK Broadband aim to provide enhanced communication services that allow their customers across Korea to use large volumes of data seamlessly.

The introduction of this high-capacity wired network utilized next-generation optical transmission technology. SKT successfully completed a pioneering 1,200 km ultra-long-distance transmission test for the 800Gbps capacity and then introduced a 1.2Tbps ultra-high-capacity mid-distance transmission test on the commercial network, advancing the core functions of optical transmission equipment: ‘long-distance transmission’ and ‘high-capacity transmission.’

To respond to the surging data traffic, SKT and SK Broadband have densely built next-generation optical transmission equipment, NG-ROADM, in a mesh network style across major cities nationwide. NG-ROADM is the latest technology in optical communication networks, significantly enhancing network flexibility, efficiency, and scalability. It plays a key role in meeting the rapidly increasing bandwidth demand and preparing future optical communication infrastructure.

Through the construction of high-capacity wired networks applying various next-generation optical transmission technologies, it has become possible to achieve up to 1.2Tbps and a maximum distance of 800Gbps high-capacity transmission in various network applications, including mid-distance, long-distance, and submarine networks.

Lee Jong-hoon, Head of Infrastructure Engineering at SK Telecom, said, “In preparation for the AI era, where traffic usage is expected to explode, we are striving to guarantee lossless traffic transmission across the entire country.” He added, “We will continue to build networks capable of revolutionary high-capacity traffic transmission.”

Park Seung-jin, Head of Infrastructure Planning at SK Broadband, stated, “As data center demand increases, the need to advance long-distance high-capacity transmission networks is emerging.” He added, “We will strive to build advanced networks through continuous acquisition of optical transmission technology.”

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