SK Telecom said on March 22 it provided stable communications services through an AI-based network operations system at a large K-pop concert held in Seoul's Gwanghwamun area on March 21.

A total of 12.15 terabytes of mobile data were used around Gwanghwamun Square, Cheonggye Square and Seoul Plaza during the three hours around the concert, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. That was about double the 5.87 TB used in the same time slot the previous weekend. The amount was equivalent to sending 2.43 million photos or streaming video for 4,860 hours.

By age group, people in their 20s used 30 percent of total data, the largest share, followed by those in their 30s at 24 percent, 40s at 22 percent, 50 and older at 18 percent, and teens at 6 percent. Men had a higher share of downloads, while women had a higher share of uploads. The number of foreigners rose about 23 percent from the previous weekend.

SKT first operated its AI-based network operations system, A-One, at the concert. A-One monitored traffic in real time at five-minute intervals and in 50-metre units, and immediately suggested traffic distribution and resource reallocation when there was a risk of overload. A total of 199 people from SKT, SK Broadband and SK O&S were deployed on emergency duty.

Hong Seon-gi (홍선기), head of SKT's metropolitan network, said, "Even in an ultra-high-density traffic environment, we provided high-quality communications services through an autonomous network."