LG Uplus Expands Open RAN Testbed at Kumoh National Institute of Technology Campus

LG Uplus announced on the 26th that it will expand its Open RAN testbed at Kumoh National Institute of Technology (KIT) in partnership with KIT and Samji Electronics. The initiative aims to verify the completeness of Open RAN in a real commercial network environment.
Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) is a wireless access network designed based on open interfaces and interoperability. It seeks to innovate efficiency and cost-effectiveness beyond the limitations of traditional networks, establishing itself as a core technology for the 5G-6G era.
This expansion of the testbed is part of a national project led by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) to establish Open RAN demonstration sites. In addition to LG Uplus, KIT, and Samji Electronics, Innowireless, a domestic measurement equipment specialist, is participating. The project features an industry-academia-research collaboration model involving 5G Open RAN equipment manufacturers, telecom operators, measurement equipment companies, and local universities.
LG Uplus and its partners have expanded the installation of Open Radio Unit (O-RU) devices throughout all buildings at the Kumoh National Institute of Technology Gumi Campus. Following the initial deployment of in-building O-RUs in select buildings such as the main building, library, and practice halls last December, the coverage has now been extended to the entire campus, establishing a commercial Open RAN network.
In addition to securing the commercial Open RAN testbed, LG Uplus plans to further advance the verification of key Open RAN technologies, including the cloud-based virtualized base station and the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC).
KIT supports the demonstration through student participation. Students will be directly involved in activities such as coverage checks and uplink/downlink speed measurements to verify 5G wireless quality, contributing to industry-academia collaboration by performing communication quality assessments.
Sangheon Lee, Head of Advanced Network Development at LG Uplus, stated, “To build on the achievements from last year’s Open RAN testbed, we have decided to expand the initiative in collaboration with various partners. LG Uplus will continue to strengthen domestic network technology through Open RAN, work with the global ecosystem, and lead the way in creating a brighter world by providing better network services to our customers.”

solidkjy@fnnews.com Gu Ja-yoon Reporter