Interview with Dr. Takki Yu Vice President, Head of Infra Tech Office, SK Telecom

Q: Throughout your career leading to your current position as Vice President, Head of Infra Tech Office at SK Telecom, what have been the most significant milestones or turning points that shaped your professional development in the telecommunications industry?

One of the most defining milestones in my career was leading SK Telecom’s successful launch of the world’s first commercial 5G network. Achieving clear differentiation from LTE — in terms of ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency, and massive connectivity — required the timely development and optimization of multiple breakthrough technologies. Meeting the unique requirements of a mobile network operator and translating them into real, deployable solutions in close collaboration with global equipment vendors was an enormous challenge, both technically and in terms of schedule pressure. Overcoming these hurdles significantly enhanced my problem-solving, leadership, and cross-functional collaboration skills. These experiences laid the groundwork for my current focus on Beyond 5G and 6G research, while also strengthening my ability to take leadership roles in global standardization and industry alliances. Ultimately, they have helped SK Telecom maintain a leading position in the global telecommunications landscape.

Q: As the leader of R&D on end-to-end mobile communication infrastructure technologies at SK Telecom, what aspects of your role do you find most intellectually stimulating?

I currently oversee R&D for SK Telecom’s end-to-end (E2E) mobile communication infrastructure — integrating diverse domains such as Radio Access, Core, Transport, Device, Location, and Network AI into a unified, high-performance network. The intellectual challenge lies in designing and orchestrating such complex systems, ensuring they work seamlessly to deliver next-generation network capabilities.

I find it deeply rewarding to define a future network vision that keeps pace with the rapid evolution of global standards and ecosystems, and to transform that vision into reality through close partnerships with vendors and research teams. Recently, I’ve been placing particular emphasis on applying AI technologies to intelligent and autonomous networks. This is a technically demanding but strategically critical area for sustaining long-term competitiveness in telecommunications. My team and I are dedicating significant effort to developing and validating these innovations, often through intensive collaboration and ideation sessions that spark some of our most creative breakthroughs.

Q: SK Telecom has been involved with the O-RAN Alliance, hosting meetings in South Korea. How do you see open radio access network technologies transforming the telecommunications landscape, and what unique challenges has SK Telecom encountered in this implementation?

Open RAN is a next-generation core technology that transforms the radio access network into an open and flexible architecture, and SK Telecom views it as a central pillar for both 6G readiness and infrastructure innovation. Its key areas of advancement include:

- Virtualized base stations enabled by the separation of software and hardware,

- Open interfaces that allow interoperability between heterogeneous equipment, and

- AI-based intelligent network operations.

Through these innovations, the mobile industry is undergoing significant changes in supply chain diversification, cost efficiency, and operational automation.

In particular, SK Telecom has developed — at a world-leading level — an AI-powered technology that analyzes traffic patterns and time-based loads in the Radio Unit (RU), and optimizes transmission power when needed to reduce energy consumption. This technology has been applied in the Open RAN environment, enabling reduced power usage while maintaining network quality. It is expected to become a key foundation for building greener and more sustainable networks in the future. That said, in order to adopt Open RAN, there could be challenges in ensuring interoperability between equipment, optimizing performance, and establishing security and certification procedures. SK Telecom continues to enhance the maturity and global competitiveness of Open RAN through active participation in standardization, expansion of the global ecosystem, and the commercialization of these AI-integrated technologies.

Q: How do you envision AI technologies reshaping the future of telecommunications infrastructure, and what specific applications are you most excited about?

Amid the explosive advancement of AI, telecommunications infrastructure is entering a new paradigm — shifting from simple connectivity to intelligent systems. In particular, as we move into the era of Agentic AI and Physical AI, networks will need to meet far more complex and sophisticated demands. To address this, SK Telecom is focusing on two strategic pillars: “AI for Network” and “Network for AI.” The former leverages AI to enhance network quality and enable operational automation, while the latter builds an adaptive infrastructure capable of supporting AI services in a flexible and reliable manner. These capabilities will form a core foundation for the 6G era.

Potential applications include enhancing the safety of autonomous vehicles, enabling remote surgeries and real-time collaboration in smart factories through AI-powered robots, and delivering hyper-realistic experiences via digital twins and the metaverse. Through the deep convergence of networks and AI, SK Telecom aims not only to deliver optimal next-generation AI services, but also to create new business models that will further strengthen our global leadership.

Q: As telecommunications infrastructure continues to evolve, what do you believe are the most critical technological advancements that will define the next five years in the industry, and how is SK Telecom positioning itself to lead in these areas?

Over the next five years, the key driver of telecommunications infrastructure evolution will be the convergence of AI and communication technologies, with AI-RAN — which supports both network functions and AI services directly at the base station — at its core. To realize this, two capabilities are essential: real-time monitoring and allocation of telecom and AI resources within the base station, and a network-wide management layer provided by the AI-RAN Orchestrator. For example, when additional resources are needed for network functions, AI services running at the base station can be instantly migrated to other servers or the cloud, ensuring service stability. SK Telecom, in collaboration with AWS, has developed the AI-RAN Orchestrator by combining our network operations expertise with the cloud and AI capabilities of a hyperscaler, thereby enhancing scalability and automation. This enables us to deliver high-quality AI services reliably while maximizing the efficiency of costly hardware investments. Furthermore, this model is poised to become a reference for AI-RAN deployment in the global telecommunications industry.

Q: At Network X 2025, what specific insights or innovations from SK Telecom's mobile communication infrastructure technologies are you most looking forward to sharing with the global telecommunications community?

At Network X 2025, SK Telecom plans to showcase our innovations in next-generation networks driven by the fusion of AI and telecommunications, along with energy-saving technologies that enable a more sustainable 5G network.

First, we will introduce AI-RAN, which delivers both network functions and AI services directly at the base station, as well as the AI-RAN Orchestrator, which intelligently controls and optimizes these services. This technology ensures both AI service quality and network stability while maximizing the efficient use of costly hardware resources. We will also present collaboration cases with global hyperscalers that combine cloud, AI, and network capabilities to achieve enhanced scalability and automation.

In addition, with 76% of our subscribers on 5G, SK Telecom considers improving energy efficiency a core mission for environmental protection. Currently, during off-peak nighttime hours, we automatically switch off underutilized base stations to reduce unnecessary power consumption. Even during the high-demand daytime period, we are applying AI-based real-time traffic analysis and resource optimization to save energy while maintaining quality. Early tests conducted in select areas of Seoul have shown up to 14% power savings, and we plan to expand this nationwide to achieve both cost reduction and environmental benefits. By combining our Network AI strategy with energy-saving innovations, SK Telecom will work together with global partners preparing for the 6G era to create a reference model for intelligent and eco-friendly network infrastructure.

Q: Given the convergence of various technologies in the telecommunications space, which discussions or presentations at Network X are you particularly interested in attending, and how might they influence SK Telecom's future R&D directions?

At this year’s Network X, SK Telecom looks forward to engaging with global companies that possess diverse technologies and expertise in AI-RAN, 6G, Network AI, and Open RAN. Through these exchanges, we aim to gain a broad understanding of the latest technological trends and real-world applications in each field, share perspectives on mutual areas of interest, and explore potential opportunities for collaboration.

In particular, in the areas of AI-RAN and Network AI, we plan to examine technologies for network operations automation, energy efficiency, and resource optimization spanning base stations, cloud, and edge infrastructure. For the 6G sessions, we will focus on technical directions for ultra-low latency and high-reliability communications, intelligent connectivity, and the enablement of next-generation services. In the area of Open RAN, we will review trends in expanding open interfaces, optimizing multi-vendor equipment operations, and advancing standardization efforts. These discussions and information exchanges will serve as a valuable reference for SK Telecom as we respond to changes in the global telecommunications industry and seek new opportunities for collaboration with diverse partners.