SK Telecom and SK ONS employees check the network status around Jamsil Station in Songpa-gu, Seoul. /Courtesy of SK Telecom

SK Telecom announced on the 22nd that it will begin focused management of mobile communication quality in anticipation of increased communication traffic during the year-end and New Year holidays.

First, it expects traffic to increase in downtown areas and major festivals during this year's Christmas season, and plans to establish separate communication measures by region to ensure optimal management of communication quality. The 31st and January 1st will be set as special communication measures periods, and a situation room will be operated.

During this period, SK Telecom, along with its subsidiaries, SK Broadband, SK ONS, Home & Service, and specialized personnel from partner companies, will deploy an average of around 900 personnel daily to monitor year-end and New Year communication services 24 hours a day.

Previously, SK Telecom expanded the capacity of 5G and LTE base stations focusing on areas expected to see increased mobile communication traffic, such as year-end celebrations, New Year events, sunrise spots, train stations, bus terminals, major tourist attractions, accommodation facilities, and other crowded areas. It predicts that data usage nationwide on the 31st will increase by about 7% compared to usual and has completed quality checks and service optimization work in advance. It has also prepared countermeasures in anticipation of a surge in traffic due to New Year greetings and increased SNS and messaging on January 1st.

Additionally, anticipating a rise in illegal spam and hacking attempts taking advantage of the festive end-of-year atmosphere, it is strengthening real-time monitoring and response related to security breaches such as mobile malicious apps and web hacking. It will focus on monitoring for DDoS attacks against company services while also responding to smishing attempts that impersonate the government or lure customers with international calls, and will continue to monitor zombie devices.

Yoon Hyung-sik, head of infrastructure operations at SK Telecom, said, "We plan to do our utmost to ensure stable service operations so that users can spend the year-end in peace and happiness and welcome the New Year."