Beneath the ATHENA structure, SK Telecom plans to steadily apply AI- and cloud-based automation throughout all community layers
In sum – what to know:
6G roadmap – SK Telecom’s ATHENA paper outlines its post-2030 community evolution technique, persevering with a 6G sequence launched in 2023.
AI integration – The operator distinguishes between “AI for community” optimization and “community for AI” infrastructure help for rising AI companies.
3GPP ecosystem – SK Telecom is contributing to 3GPP, ITU, and O-RAN work and plans to show AI-RAN and associated applied sciences at MWC 2026.
Korean service SK Telecom has launched its third 6G white paper, titled ATHENA, setting out its mid- to long-term imaginative and prescient for community evolution past 2030. The doc continues a sequence launched in 2023 and focuses on how communication infrastructure might evolve within the AI period.
The paper outlines a framework constructed round AI-native structure, zero belief safety, hyper-connectivity, openness, and cloud-native operations.
The Asian service describes two parallel instructions for AI integration: “AI for community,” aimed toward enabling real-time analytics and autonomous optimization, and “community for AI,” centered on adapting infrastructure to help AI-driven companies effectively. The white paper additionally highlights expanded virtualization, open interfaces, and general-purpose {hardware} to extend flexibility throughout radio, core, and transport domains.
Beneath the ATHENA structure, SK Telecom plans to steadily apply AI- and cloud-based automation throughout all community layers, whereas growing a community information platform to help AI-based companies.
The Korean operator stated it’s actively contributing to international requirements via our bodies reminiscent of 3GPP, ITU, and the O-RAN Alliance, and was not too long ago elected to the board of the AI-RAN Alliance.
Yu Takki, head of community expertise workplace at SK Telecom, stated: “Regardless of uncertainties within the 6G period, we’ll proceed to create new development alternatives by main the evolution of future communication infrastructure over the subsequent decade, prioritizing buyer worth and mixing AI, virtualization, openness, and 0 belief safety,”
On the upcoming MWC Barcelona 2026, the telco stated it’s going to showcase key associated applied sciences, together with varied AI brokers for networks, AI-RAN expertise, on-device AI-based antenna optimization, and built-in communication and sensing expertise.
SK Telecom is more and more leaning on AI infrastructure as its subsequent development driver. In a current name with traders, SK Telecom’s CFO Jong-seok Park, stated that the corporate stays centered on establishing a powerful basis for its AI enterprise. He pointed to a two-digit development pattern in its AI information heart enterprise income, citing a rise in utilization charges of Gasan and Yangju information facilities and the acquisition of Pangyo information heart. “This yr, we intention to speed up development by actively growing enterprise growth alternatives via enterprise scale-up with a further information heart within the Seoul metropolitan area,” he continued.
