COONTEC INTERVIEW

COONTEC CEO Hyukjun Bang: “Private 5G Total Service Will Support Industrial DX”

COONTEC CEO Hyukjun Bang presenting devices connected to a private 5G network

“COONTEC is an innovative company that has supported industries with differentiated security consulting and proven solutions. In the second half of the year, we will quickly provide a ‘Private 5G Total Service’ optimized for the era of digital transformation to help customers accelerate their digital innovation.”

Hyukjun Bang, CEO of COONTEC, said the company aims to secure more than 1,000 customers by next year and generate more than KRW 3 billion in revenue from the related business within the year.

COONTEC is a DX security specialist, with convergence security experts accounting for about 70% of its workforce. The company provides 5G infrastructure solutions, vulnerability management tools based on binary verification, open-source inspection tools, embedded virtualization solutions, and professional security consulting. It also became the first company in the security industry to receive e-Um 5G spectrum and successfully build a private network compliant with 3GPP Release 17.

The company has recently drawn attention through projects including an IITP 5G security research initiative and the deployment of a private 5G network for validating communications solutions for the Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bang said, “Our private 5G network ensures secure connectivity and management across different internal systems. It also supports integrated network asset management regardless of location and helps stabilize OT networks and remote-work environments.”

COONTEC has begun expanding into the B2B 5G market through these services. It has already secured around 600 customers across smart factories, energy, IoT, and defense industries.

To expand the business, COONTEC established a joint venture, NextEPC Korea, with U.S.-based LTE and 5G core systems company NextEPC. By combining COONTEC’s security expertise and experience building e-Um 5G private networks with NextEPC’s 5G core technology, the companies plan to supply private 5G networks to enterprise customers.

Bang said, “Through this collaboration, we plan to provide EPC and 5G core capabilities supporting both 4G and 5G in a single integrated software package based on global 5G and LTE core systems that support the latest 3GPP versions. The service can be deployed in various forms, including on-premises, standalone networks, cloud environments, and multi-site configurations.”

COONTEC CEO Hyukjun Bang in front of the COONTEC logo

Bang also expects the domestic B2B 5G market to enter a period of full-scale growth. He noted that although B2B 5G is still at an early stage in Korea, 5G networks can become an industrial game changer through ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency, high reliability, and stronger security.

He added that, as Korea is a major manufacturing nation, 5G-based digital transformation is inevitable, and that the rapid expansion of B2B 5G in global markets such as the United States suggests strong growth potential for Korea as well.