SK Broadband develops green, efficient network technology

South Korea's internet service provider SK Broadband Co. has developed optical communications technology that simultaneously provides differing degrees of high-speed internet services through one piece of equipment.

The equipment enables different internet speeds within a range of 1-10 gigabits per second (Gbps). SK Broadband became the first Korean company to have implemented such technology, via integrated optical modules, the firm said on Monday.

The technology will cut costs as there is no need to install multiple pieces of equipment for different internet speeds. It also improves physical space efficiency by 65%, the firm said.

It generates less heat and reduces carbon emissions, as well as reduces electricity consumption by 28% compared with pre-existing equipment, SK Broadband added.

The company developed the technology via an optical communications components project for intelligent information networks, led and supported by Korea’s science ministry and public institute the National Information Society Agency. The project began in June as SK Broadband formed a consortium with telecommunications giant SK Telecom Co., network equipment supplier HFR Inc., network equipment maker Deonet Co. and optical communication module maker Opticore.

The project work will continue until the end of this year, aiming to localize advanced technologies for optical communications and commercialize them next year.

The consortium is verifying the technology at SK Broadband’s base station in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, and will showcase the development at the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC 2022), taking place Sept. 19-21 in Basel, Switzerland.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at leeswoo@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.