SK Telecom (SKT) said that Shinhan Bank's building in central Seoul would be transformed into "Experience Space" where customers can experience future finance and a testbed for 5G MEC would be set up on the fifth floor to carry out joint research on future financial services. The two companies would help startups develop new services and products by combining SKT's communications data with Shinhan Bank's financial data.
5G-based MEC is designed to be implemented at cellular base stations or other edge nodes and enables flexible and rapid deployment of new applications and services for clients. By running applications and performing related processing tasks closer to the cellular customer, network congestion can be reduced and applications perform better.
SKT has established ties with global tech companies for 5G MEC cooperation. "We will provide new value to our customers through innovative services that incorporate AI, big data and others," SKT's MNO business head Yoo Young-sang said in a statement.
SKT's quantum cryptography technology will be applied to Shinhan Bank's mobile app to establish a quantum random number-based security system. SKT has agreed to apply its 5G quantum cryptography technology to IM Bank, the mobile banking app of DGB Daegu Bank, in September. It would be the first quantum-powered service in South Korea's banking industry.
In May, Samsung's 5G smartphone, Galaxy A Quantum, was installed with SKT's quantum random number generator (QRNG) in cooperation with ID Quantique (IDQ), a Swiss company that provides quantum key distribution systems and quantum-safe network encryption. The QRNG chipset allows smartphone holders to use selected services safely by generating true random numbers that cannot be hacked.