South Korean telecom giant makes strategic investment in Swiss security company

SK Telecom invested in ID Quantique with the goal of developing IDQ’s quantum technologies for the telecom and IoT markets. Specifically, SK Telecom will bring to market the next generation of miniaturized Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNG) based on a ground-breaking new technology under exclusive license from ID Quantique.  The companies will also align their roadmaps and cooperate on the development of quantum-safe security products based on Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).

“ID Quantique is an excellent strategic fit within SK Telecom as we invest to capture the very significant opportunities provided by the Internet of “Secure” Things (IoT), secure mobile telecommunications and big data,” said Alex Jinsung Choi, CTO and Head of the Corporate R&D Center of SK Telecom. “This investment also marks our strong commitment to competitive advantage provided by the deep pool of science and technology involved with quantum cryptography.”

ID Quantique CEO, Grégoire Ribordy, stated: “We are proud to work closely with SK Telecom.  Their investment is a validation that quantum technologies are now ready for large scale commercial deployments. Together we can enter new geographic and vertical markets and meet the increasing demands for security.”

Quantum Random Number Generators are used to generate high quality encryption keys for security applications, as well as in other applications such as online gaming and mathematical simulations.  Quantum Key Distribution, often called quantum cryptography, allows companies and governments to encrypt data on networks in a quantum-safe manner. Unlike much of today’s encryption solutions which are vulnerable to the advent of quantum computing, QKD is based on quantum mechanics principles which will afford long-term data protection into the quantum era. The combination of QRNG and QKD ensure that encrypted data today will be protected in a future-proof manner.

About SK Telecom
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, KSE: 017670), established in 1984, is Korea’s largest telecommunications company with more than 29.45 million mobile subscribers, accounting for around 50% of the market. The company reached KRW 17.137 trillion in revenue in 2015.

As the world’s first company to commercialize CDMA, CDMA 2000 1x, CDMA EV-DO and HSDPA networks, SK Telecom launched the nation’s first LTE service in July 2011. SK Telecom also became the world’s first mobile carrier to commercialize 150Mbps LTE-Advanced in June 2013 and 225Mbps LTE-Advanced in June 2014 through Carrier Aggregation(CA). In line with its efforts to swiftly move towards the next-generation mobile network system, or 5G, it successfully commercialized 300Mbps tri-band LTE-A CA in December 2014 and launched LTE-Advanced Pro in June 2016.

As of the end of September 2016, the company has over 20.55 million LTE and LTE-Advanced subscribers. Based on its strength in network operations business, SK Telecom is seeking new growth engines through three innovative platforms namely Lifestyle Enhancement Platform, Advanced Media Platform and IoT Service Platform.

(Press release)

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