LG Uplus collaborates with Fanuc to develop smart factory platform

LG Uplus will provide cloud-based services using artificial intelligence tools under a subscription model to help small business customers reduce initial investment costs

South Korea’s third largest operator, LG Uplus, announced plans to work with automation company Fanuc to develop a smart factory platform to enable small and medium-sized companies to remotely monitor and analyze machine tool operations.

Through this planned cooperation with the local division of Fanuc in Japan, LG Uplus aims to link its control platform with machine tool controllers to monitor equipment status and detect any abnormalities in real time.

The Korean carrier said it will provide cloud-based services using artificial intelligence tools under a subscription model to help small business customers reduce initial investment costs while improving production efficiency.

Fanuc manufactures advanced computer numerical control and motion control systems for a wide variety of industrial applications.

Jeon Yeong-seo, head of LG Uplus’ corporate service development lab, said predictive maintenance of various CNC equipment including lathes and milling machines, can reduce pain points for machine tool customers on the factory floor.

Last month, LG uplus unveiled its new artificial intelligence (AI) services, which are part of the telco’s long-term strategy to transform into a digital platform service provider.

The new AI service, dubbed “ixi”, offers AI-powered services for sports match predictions, customer call centers, small business management and content recommendations, according to the carrier.

LG Uplus recently announced an initiative to reorganize its current and future key services under four main platform pillars centered on the themes of lifestyle, entertainment, parenting and Web 3.0. As part of this strategy, the telco aims to expand its non-telecom business portfolio to represent up to 40% of the telco’s overall sales by 2027.

LG Uplus is also working to further expand its 5G coverage across the country. In July this year, the operator secured an additional 20 megahertz of spectrum to use for 5G.

The Ministry of Science and ICT confirmed the allocation of the 3.4-3.42 GHz frequency band to LG Uplus, in addition to the 3.42 to 3.5 GHz spectrum that the telecom company bought in 2018.

LG Uplus had previously asked the Korean government for an additional 20 megahertz of spectrum to boost its 5G offerings. In a government spectrum auction in June 2018, rival operators SK Telecom and KT had secured 100 megahertz of spectrum, while LG Uplus had only acquired 80 megahertz.

During a keynote speech at Huawei’s 2022 Mobile Broadband Forum, held this week in Bangkok, Thailand, Yoon Ho Choi, president of XR business department at LG Uplus noted that the company’s 5G coverage had reached 85% of the population in large cities and central rural areas across Korea.

The executive also highlighted that the level of 5G availability at a national level was 90.9% and 95.2% in capital Seoul. He also noted that the average download speed of the telco’s 5G service was 640.7 Mbps.

South Korea was the first country to launch commercial 5G networks in April 2019 and currently has 5G coverage across its 85 cities.