SK Telecom said on Sunday it will activate special communications measures to ensure stable service during the Lunar New Year holiday and the Winter Olympics period.

SKT will deploy about 1,400 staff a day, including specialists from electronics companies, affiliates and partner companies, for a total of about 8,600 people over the year. It will operate a special communications situation room for 6 days from Feb. 13 to 18 and monitor telecommunications services around the clock. It will strengthen its response system in cooperation with subsidiaries such as SK Broadband, SK O&S and Home & Service, and with affiliates such as SK AX and SK Shields and partner companies. SKT said it has completed base station capacity checks at about 1,200 locations nationwide, including major train stations, bus terminals, airports, public cemeteries and grave-visiting sites, in preparation for increased data traffic during the Lunar New Year holiday. It expects data traffic on the holiday itself to rise by up to 17 percent from normal levels and plans to provide a smooth telecommunications environment by optimising coverage.

SKT will also offer video call services free from Feb. 14 to 18 to help families exchange holiday greetings. For customers eligible to use the service, free video calls will be applied automatically during the period without a separate application. It will also set up situation rooms for major services such as A Dot, PASS, T map and T ID to ensure traffic management and normal operations.

From Feb. 7 to 23, SKT and SKB will jointly strengthen management of wired and wireless networks as distribution of Winter Olympics-related content is expected to surge. It also expects the number of international roaming users departing overseas to rise by more than 30 percent from usual levels as the Winter Olympics overlaps with the holiday, and will step up 집중 management of that as well.

SKT will operate an integrated security centre jointly with 7 affiliates to strengthen its response system for security incidents. It will detect and block hacking attempts in real time around the clock and closely monitor distributed denial-of-service attacks. Along with thorough management of network and cloud areas, it will also focus on monitoring to block smishing that impersonates government agencies during the holiday period.

Bok Jae-won (복재원), head of network operations at SKT, said, "We plan to do our utmost in managing communications quality so customers can use telecommunications services with peace of mind during the long Lunar New Year holiday." He added, "As large events such as the Winter Olympics are under way, we will thoroughly prepare for all situations."