NOW taps South Korea’s largest wireless carrier for 5G ambition

Listed NOW Corp. announced a partnership with South Korea’s SK Telecom to pursue potential 5G businesses in the Philippines.

A stock exchange filing on Friday showed NOW and affiliate NOW Telecom Co. Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding with SK, paving the way for collaboration on 5G “technology road map and knowledge transfer.”

5G is expected to deliver faster internet speed with less lag times. The technology is expected to play a key role in an era of connected devices and power a host of applications from driverless cars to remote medical operations using virtual reality.

NOW said in its filing the agreement with SK included building a stand-alone 5G network. This will support plans to provide 5G services to business customers and for in-building solutions.

It said SK and NOW would also formulate a “phased 5G commercialization” plan.

“This partnership with SK Telecom will help produce a more defined business strategy for NOW and its execution programs for the next five to 10 years as the country begins to embrace 5G and its various applications,” NOW said in its filing.

SK is South Korea’s largest wireless carrier and an aggressive player in the 5G space.

NOW Telecom, on the other hand, holds a congressional franchise to provide telecommunications services.

NOW also provides wireless broadband services mainly to business customers.

It upgraded and quadrupled its capacity to 2.4 gigabits per second in 2018. It has connected more than 400 buildings with service coverage of up to 2 kilometers per building. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS