South Korea’s telecom carrier LG Uplus and Japan’s counterpart KDDI have agreed to partner up in drone technology development to save costs by sharing their drone and platform technologies.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in smart drone business at KDDI’s 5G Summit held in Tokyo, Japan, last Thursday.

A complete unmanned smart drone combined with a high-speed 5G network and cloud computing is in the spotlight as a means of mobility for the future. As it does not rely on radio waves, it is able to provide a massive collection of high-definition images to the control room without distance limitations. Under the 5G network, which is 20 times faster than the 4G, drone performance can be leveraged to its full potential, raising expectations of explosive market growth.

LG Uplus and KDDI also agreed to expand their cooperation in discovering new 5G business opportunities and spreading commercial 5G services related to startup investment and content development.

The event was designed to provide KDDI’s 5G strategy and vision ahead of its commercial service next year, when the Summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo. LG Uplus was invited to the event to share successful 5G services with local ICT experts. KDDI paid keen attention to the Korean firm’s AR/VR, smart city, self-driving applications in addition to drone business.

By Lee Sun-hee and Minu Kim

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