Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom have successfully completed what is claimed to be the world’s first 4G LTE and 5G end-to-end network interworking trial in a real outdoor environment in Seoul. To enable interworking between 4G and 5G, the companies used the current 4G LTE commercial network in the 2.6GHz band and newly built 5G networks using frequencies of 3.5GHz and 28GHz, as well as virtualized core and a test device that supports both 4G and 5G technologies.
The successful test implies that end users will still be able to enjoy seamless mobile service going to and from 4G and 5G service areas during the initial phases of 5G network deployment.
SK Telecom and Samsung established a virtualization network consisting of virtual 4G LTE and 5G cores with Software Defined Network technology. With the lessons learned from the test, SK Telecom and Samsung will continue with various tests and trials to come up with ideal commercial scenarios and further identify 5G use cases by maximizing the use of the existing 4G commercialized networks.
