SK Telecom launches AI-RAN pilot network project to build 'AI highway' infrastructure

SK Telecom is set to launch a project to build an AI-RAN pilot network, which the company considers a core foundation for what it calls an "AI highway."

SK Telecom said Tuesday it had been selected as the implementing agency for the "Hyper-AI Network Infrastructure" pilot project, overseen by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency (NIA). Through the project, the company plans to build an AI-RAN pilot network and develop and demonstrate physical AI convergence services.

The initiative is rooted in the government's national agenda to build an "AI highway." SK Telecom aims to validate ultra-low-latency, high-reliability and ultra-precise network technologies — the core building blocks of that infrastructure — in real industrial settings. For physical AI systems such as robots to perform real-time perception, decision-making and control in the field, they require not only high-quality communications capable of transmitting large volumes of data without delay, but also infrastructure that can offload AI computation from the devices themselves.

Through this pilot, SK Telecom plans to proactively secure the AI-RAN network foundation it sees as critical infrastructure for the physical AI era. AI-RAN is a next-generation network in which base stations provide both communications functions and AI computing resources. The key concept is that the network shares the computational load of physical AI, reducing the burden on end devices while improving overall efficiency.

Specifically, over the two-year pilot, SK Telecom will apply AI-RAN alongside 5G standalone-specific technologies such as network slicing, as well as a service management and orchestration system and AI-based automation technology, to quantitatively verify performance improvements on the pilot network. The company also plans to simultaneously develop, build and demonstrate AI-RAN equipment from four vendors — Samsung Electronics, HFR, Ericsson and Nokia — within a single project.

SK Telecom will also diversify AI-RAN computing resource configurations — including CPUs and GPUs — to quantitatively compare performance under identical conditions. The company plans to simultaneously operate various deployment architectures for AI servers and user plane functions to determine which configurations are best suited for physical AI services.

In addition, SK Telecom plans to demonstrate three physical AI services designed to prove the benefits of the AI-RAN pilot network. These will validate key characteristics required for physical AI: high-volume uplink transmission, ultra-low latency, distributed computing, mobility and reliability.

The first service to be demonstrated is a quadruped patrol robot. In place of human workers, the robot patrols hazardous areas inside a factory, continuously transmitting high-definition video in real time even while moving. The AI-RAN system then analyzes the footage using an AI model to perform hazard detection and integrated monitoring.

SK Telecom will also demonstrate an unmanned autonomous transport service. LiDAR sensor data collected from on-site infrastructure is aggregated at AI-RAN base stations via ultra-low-latency, high-reliability communications; the base stations centrally process the data to construct a digital twin and then issue remote driving commands to vehicles. A humanoid robot low-power mode service — which offloads the robot's AI computation to AI-RAN base stations — will also be validated.

The project will be carried out as a consortium structured around large and small business cooperation. SK Telecom serves as the lead agency, with Ericsson Korea and HFR participating in the equipment segment, and Intellivix, Seoul Robotics and Kleva handling physical AI service development. SK Incheon Petrochem and KG Mobility are participating as demand-side institutions. Samsung Electronics and Nokia will also supply AI-RAN base station equipment and provide technical cooperation.

In the first year, SK Telecom plans to build AI-RAN pilot networks at two sites — Incheon and Pangyo — and demonstrate two physical AI services. At the SK Incheon Petrochem site, the company will use Samsung Electronics' AI-RAN as the foundation to demonstrate a quadruped patrol robot and an industrial safety monitoring service using mobile CCTV. In Pangyo, it will establish a physical AI living lab based on HFR's AI-RAN to validate the unmanned autonomous transport service.

In the second year, SK Telecom will expand on the first-year demonstrations with a focus on actual industrial sites. The industrial safety service validated at SK Incheon Petrochem will be upgraded, while the unmanned autonomous transport service tested at the Pangyo living lab will be deployed at KG Mobility's Pyeongtaek factory — where an AI-RAN pilot network incorporating Ericsson's 5G technology will be built — for application in a real logistics environment. Low-latency, high-reliability communications and AI-based autonomous network control technology will also be demonstrated using Ericsson's service management and orchestration system.

SK Telecom said it intends to channel all pilot results from the project into global standardization efforts and broader ecosystem development. The company plans to establish performance indicators based on data gathered from validating diverse vendors, architectures and services, and to reflect those findings in standards discussions at global bodies such as O-RAN and 3GPP. It will also use the AI-RAN Alliance to spread the pilot outcomes across the global ecosystem.

SK Telecom also plans to link the AI-RAN pilot network to SK Group's AI data center infrastructure strategy. The company intends to develop the pilot network into a core component of the "AI highway" — connecting AI data centers, AI-RAN base stations and on-site physical AI through ultra-precise, ultra-low-latency and high-reliability communications.

"As the only Korean member of the AI-RAN Alliance board of directors, we will leverage our accumulated capabilities to demonstrate a range of AI-RAN pilot networks and physical AI services," said Ryu Tak-gi, head of network technology at SK Telecom. "We will advance AI-RAN technology as the core of the AI highway, while also strengthening the self-sufficiency and global competitiveness of the domestic ecosystem through large and small business cooperation."