LIVE FROM 5G WORLD, LONDON: Young Sik Kim, KT’s head of network technology, billed the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics as the first 5G games, and lifted the curtain on what users might expect from the experience.

Most of the applications were oriented towards media consumption of the event.

Pyeongchang will be the first of a trio of Olympics which will be 5G-flavoured, followed by the Tokyo (Japan) summer games in 2020 and the 2022 winter games in Beijing (China).

This is not the first time the Korean operator claimed to be breaking new ground with 5G. It said the test bed debuted in February 2016 was a first too.

Most eye catching of what KT envisages at the games in two years was a 5G-linked drone equipped with a video camera. During a technical trial last September, images were sent back from the top of a ski jump tower, and on the subsequent route down to ground level.

Allowing viewers to experience the games from the athlete’s point of view will likely be a significant part of what 5G will add to the media experience.

Live holograms of athletes are also promised, as well as so-called omni-view camera angles whereby viewers can choose to watch an event from multiple points of view.  In addition, 5G enables the collection of vast amount of performance data, so called sports IoT, both for the benefit of fans and for athletes and coaches.