SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top mobile carrier, said Thursday it will unveil a holographic communication technology called "telepresence" at an annual technology fair in Barcelona, Spain, later this month.
The telepresence service, which is based on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) with the usage of the fifth-generation (5G) network, allows people to experience being present in another location.
SK Telecom said it will unveil the service, expected to revolutionize the future communication system, during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), which kicks off Monday.
The company said the service will be commercialized only when the full-fledged commercial service of the 5G network is adopted as the super-fast network supports 1,000 times more data capacity than the LTE-Advanced network, currently billed as the world's fastest.
"AR-based media allows people to feel as if they have been teleported, and the service will be allowed when the 5G network is commercialized," SK Telecom said in a press release, adding that the telepresence service will provide a revolutionary experience.
The service can be applied to videoconferencing to recreate meeting rooms, which would bring people and objects at separate locations right into the same rooms, officials said.
SK Telecom said it will also unveil a VR-based platform called "Mixed Reality" (MR) to the public for the first time during the MWC.
In 2015, SK joined hands with Google Inc.'s Project Tango to develop the platform that combines 3-D motion-tracking with depth sensing.
Source: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2017/02/23/0200000000AEN20170223003100320.html