South Korea's KT (030200.KS) is sharply expanding wireless network capacity and activating an on-site response system ahead of the 21st Busan Fireworks Festival, which opens on November 7 in the Gwangalli Beach area of Busan. Given that the festival draws hundreds of thousands of people at once, data traffic is expected to far exceed normal levels, and the carrier plans to combine pre-emptive capacity expansion with real-time monitoring.
KT said on November 6 that it had pre-checked communications quality at the venue and along major travel routes and would implement special communications measures. It is deploying 19 fixed temporary base stations and mobile base stations at Gwangalli Beach and nearby viewing areas. Additional 5G and LTE equipment has been placed mainly around beach entrances and exits and areas expected to see dense crowds, with antenna directions and power output adjusted to suit the on-site environment.
On the day of the event, KT will mount a real-time response built around its network control center and an on-site command post. It will closely monitor data usage and base station conditions before and after the event, and if connections concentrate on a particular base station, it will distribute the load using wireless software-defined networking (W-SDN) technology. Network specialists will be stationed on site, and emergency power generation equipment will be on hand in case of power supply problems.
The 5G network will also be mobilized for crowd safety management. KT will support video transmission from 15 wireless closed-circuit (CC) TVs installed at points where crowds concentrate, including Gwangalli Beach and subway station entrances and exits. 5G standalone (SA)-based network slicing will be applied in these sections. The approach separates a single 5G network by use and allocates the necessary communications resources, with the key aim of securing dedicated resources so that monitoring video reaches the command post without interruption. Coverage will extend beyond the beach to the underground pedestrian sections linking Gwangan Station and Suyeong Station.
CategoryKey Details
Temporary base stations19 fixed sites plus mobile base stations; additional 5G and LTE equipment
Control systemReal-time response via network control center and on-site command post
Traffic distributionW-SDN-based load balancing across base stations
Safety monitoring video15 wireless CCTVs, with 5G SA network slicing applied
Coverage areaGwangalli Beach to the underground pedestrian sections at Gwangan and Suyeong Stations
Jung Sun-il, head of KT's Network Operations Innovation Division (managing director), said, "We have reinforced the wireless networks at the venue and along major travel routes in advance so that visitors to the Busan Fireworks Festival can share their precious moments without inconvenience." He added, "The control center and the on-site command post will work closely together to ensure stable communications service through the end of the event."
The Busan Fireworks Festival is a signature regional event that draws large crowds to the Gwangalli Beach area every year. As visitors share fireworks photos and videos in real time, data usage has repeatedly concentrated in one direction during particular time windows, and mobile carriers have deployed temporary equipment every year. This year, because safety monitoring video must also be handled on the same network, the key question is expected to be whether slicing technology that separates ordinary commercial traffic from monitoring traffic is actually applied.
The measures illustrate how communications quality translates directly into safety infrastructure at events that gather large crowds. If cases of 5G SA and network slicing being validated in real commercial environments increase, cooperation models between local governments and carriers on safety monitoring could also expand. The telecommunications industry views the use of network slicing at event and disaster sites as an indicator of its 5G infrastructure competitiveness.
Source: https://finance.biggo.com/news/26cc6afe-e178-4324-b1b2-3e2203c331b5
