South Korea’s largest operator SK Telecom (SKT) opened an integrated 5G innovation centre at its corporate R&D centre on the outskirts of Seoul.

SKT is partnering with Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Intel and Rohde & Schwarz to set up testbeds to develop and test 5G technologies.

Designed to create an end-to-end development environment for 5G technologies, the ‘5G playground’ consists of a 5G testbed, which hosts multiple technical testbeds and advanced testing equipment; a virtual experience room; and its T Open Lab, which aims to promote a rich 5G ecosystem by supporting venture companies.

The virtual experience room was set up to showcase SKT’s augmented reality (AR) platform for Project Tango, a one-stop service for users to develop and launch AR services.

Its T Open Lab, set up in 2012, is a space where venture companies and SMEs can turn their ideas into attractive products by using SKT’s R&D infrastructure. It recently doubled the lab’s space to accommodate more developers.

The company yesterday published its guidelines for 5G architecture design and implementation.