5G X content. Is Korea the future?

 ■ 5G X content. Is Korea the future?

The day before Verizon America's service launched, three Korean telecommunications carriers (SK Telecom, KT and lg U+) launched 5G services. These companies have the tenacity to go for World Firsts. Japan started a year later, so for Japan, Korea is the future. What kind of content does 5G produce? Is there anything Japan and Korea can do together? We held a symposium to discuss this. 

It was called the "Korea-Japan Content Business Forum" @ Yotsuya. 

The organizers were the KOCCA Institute of Content Promotion and the Korean Government.  Since Korea is the host, it was a Korean-Japanese event. Precisely now, when the politics of both countries are unstable, is the time to talk about technology, culture, and business. 

Mr. Hwang, representative of Japan for KOCCA, received his PhD in my seminar. Also present were Yang Jong-Un, general director of the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Lim Jin-Soo of Samsung Electronics Co., and Im U-Yol of e-sport PUBG. 

As the moderator, I held a panel discussion. 

According to Mr. Lim, 5G users reached 2 million in August. South Korea is moving ahead. However, Mr. Yang said "the reality of 5G is yet to come". In Korean media,  there is no content or user experience that can only be acquired through 5G, and it will be many years before this affects users. 

If so, the name of the game is the contents that will make their appearance from now on. "Three characteristics of 5G are its ultra-high speed (20 times faster), ultra-low latency (10 times less latency), and ultra-connectivity (simultaneous connecting 10 times as much equipment per area). Things such as ultra-high speed 360 degree VR holograms, ultra-low latency cloud gaming, and ultra-connected smart cities + IoT (Internet of Things)."

What we'll be focusing on first is:

- Games: Cloud gaming

- Media: 4K live streaming

- AR: Education using AI

 

Game structure modifications, 4K personalization, and education markets. It all looks very strategic. 

From "PUBG"'s Mr. Im: "With 5G and cloud-based with ultra-low latency, e-sports will change from being PC-based to being mobile-based. Taking advantage of the super-concatenation, groups of 100 players will be able to play at the same time, and enjoy 4K multi-screen multi-view on their smartphone."

Does Japan, which is chasing South Korea in terms of e-sports, aim to be capable of this from the beginning? By the way, as an e-sport, PUBG exists in a genre called Battle Royale, for  which Mr. Im says "we must give thanks because it is based on a Japanese movie".  

Oh, is that right? He must mean Kinji Fukasaku's "Battle Royale". 

Mr. Yang Jong-Un directed the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. I personally was amazed at the many drone dances showed at the opening ceremony. "We used 5G super-consolidation. It seems likely we'll be able to play augmented reality online games face-to-face with real-time holograms in 5G."

By the way, all three of them have mentioned "super-consolidation".  In Japan, ultra-high speed and large capacity, followed by ultra-low latency, are talked about as a characteristic of 5G, but the function of ultra-connectivity, which increases the number of simultaneous connected devices per area by 10 times, has not yet attracted as much attention. If the strength of 5G lies in M2M (machine-to-machine) IoT rather than P2P (peer-to-peer) communication, it is worth making a note of this. 

Is there anything that the two countries can do together? 

Mr. Yang: "Linking K-Pop and J-Pop."

Mr. Lim: "Producing game contents."

Mr. Im: "Cooperation in technology, such as the development of 5G networks."

Pop music, games and technology. These are strengths for both countries. It is important to compete, but it also is important to have a plan to face the world together. 

Regarding the first 5G experience in Korea, there are also those who regard or mock the most particular things, such as floods of complaints from users due to communication quality and coverage issues immediately after the start of the service. However, I admire resilient spirits. I also think Japan has lost its will to make solid commitments. 

The country still fussed over details about 20 years ago, when it was pushing to become the e-Japan of the IT Revolution, whereas now it is losing to South Korea, which is developing a broadband network as a part of national policy. It designed the world's best archipelago of optical fiber, achieved it, and then reeled in the relief of achieving that. Doesn't it need that kind of guts anymore? 

This time, South Korea will take the lead in introducing 5G from the public service field. Since 2020, public services utilizing 5G will be implemented in fields such as education, agriculture, and medical care. 

This makes me curious. It will not only be used in network development but also in the public field. It will aim to create core users, policy-by-policy. 

It's a strategic development. 

I think Japan should create "usage policies" that allow the public sector to make use of advanced technologies ahead of time, and create and expand core users in a policy manner, whether it is 5G or AI; however, this does not fall in line with the government. Maintenance means that in terms of usage, so long as the sense of crisis does not rise too much even (even as we're falling behind neighboring countries)... 

The Symposium sought to think about such things.