KT has become the first South Korean operator to join a committee overseeing a NATO standardisation process covering 5G and 6G, marking an unusual move by a commercial carrier into military communications standards work.

The announcement came as KT executive Kim Won-tae called for private companies and military leadership to work closely on steering mobile technology development for defence purposes, arguing that 5G and future 6G systems will play a vital role in national protection.

Kim said collaboration is the only viable way to ensure commercial mobile technologies can be employed for military defence purposes. "Taking this participation as an opportunity, KT will further solidify civil-military cooperation with the Ministry of National Defence and other relevant agencies, and actively contribute to discussions on the international standardisation of next-generation defence communications technologies," he declared.

The Ministry of National Defence is jointly hosting a meeting of the 5G and 6G Standardisation Committee with the Telecommunications and Technology Association in South Korea this week as part of the NATO Defence Communications Standardisation Project. Around 100 participants are expected at the gathering.

The meeting's agenda covers how 5G and 6G could be used in military defence. KT said it is keen to see guidelines for the use of those technologies drawn up, a step that would give operators and vendors a clearer framework for selling and deploying commercial network equipment in defence settings.

Satellite and backhaul on the agenda

KT's ambitions extend beyond terrestrial cellular. The operator also hopes to bring satellite and wireless backhaul into the discussions, exploring how those and other relevant future technologies could be standardised for use by nations participating in the NATO project.

The push into satellite links aligns with the military requirement for connectivity in areas beyond the reach of fixed infrastructure, where backhaul is often the binding constraint on deploying mobile networks in the field.

In separate documents, NATO identifies services including augmented reality and IoT as potential beneficiaries of 5G in military settings, pointing to use cases such as connected sensors and immersive situational awareness tools on the battlefield.

Commercial stakes behind the standards work

For KT, the committee seat gives the operator an early position in a standardisation process that could shape procurement requirements across NATO member states and partner nations. Korea's defence ministry involvement signals that Seoul sees dual-use telecom technology as a policy priority, not just a commercial opportunity for its equipment makers.

The development also illustrates a broader trend: defence agencies increasingly want to adapt commercial cellular standards rather than build bespoke military systems, which historically carried far higher costs and slower upgrade cycles. Operators and vendors that help define the guidelines stand to benefit when those guidelines translate into procurement specifications.

Kim framed KT's participation as the start of a deeper institutional relationship between the carrier and defence agencies. The operator says it will work with the Ministry of National Defence and other relevant agencies to contribute to the international standardisation of next-generation defence communications technologies.

With the standardisation committee meeting underway this week and roughly 100 participants engaged, KT's next concrete milestone will be whether the panel produces the usage guidelines the operator is pushing for — and how quickly satellite and backhaul technologies gain a place alongside 5G and 6G in the NATO project's scope.