KT will provide a "priority emergency rescue communications" service to support the National Fire Agency's stable disaster response. It will also upgrade the national safety network by introducing enterprise-only 5G standalone mode to the agency's administrative network.

KT said on Tuesday it will provide the service so that wireless connections for the National Fire Agency and firefighters at disaster sites are established ahead of general subscribers.

The priority transmission service was developed to provide firefighters with stable communications quality in emergency situations when traffic surges. It applies to corporate-registered wireless line subscribers, including mobile phones, tablets and Internet of Things (IoT) equipment for the National Fire Agency's public services.

KT said it provides communications services on the largest scale among domestic telecom operators for the National Fire Agency's work devices. About 8,400 devices, about 60 percent of the agency's total work devices, use KT lines, and those devices will support the priority transmission service.

KT also tested enterprise-only 5G SA on the fire administration network. Unlike the non-standalone (NSA) method that uses 5G and LTE together for data processing, 5G SA processes the entire procedure with 5G. KT has previously commercialised 5G SA as the only operator in South Korea.

KT directly linked enterprise-only devices of the Jeonnam Fire Headquarters to its commercial 5G SA network. KT said this is the first case in South Korea to commercialise 5G SA for fire services. The goal is to reduce data transmission delays and improve stability during operation of the fire administration network through the priority transmission service and 5G SA.

Based on this commercial rollout, KT will gradually expand network slicing technology that can be implemented on 5G SA networks. Network slicing is a technology that separates a single 5G network and operates it according to service purposes and work characteristics. It can create an optimised communications environment for each service.

Oh Taek-gyun (오택균), head of KT's Network Strategy Division, said, "This service is an achievement that enhances the response capability of the national safety system by combining KT's infrastructure and 5G SA technology." He added, "We will continue to expand differentiated technologies such as app slicing to solidify our telecommunications lead, including in the public and safety sectors."