Korean telecom operator SK Telecom and Alcatel-Lucent's R&D unit Bell Laboratories announced on October 19 that they have entered into a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), whereby they will jointly establish a framework to conduct various R&D projects based on next generation telecom technologies beyond 4G, the Korea IT Times reported on October 19. Through the tie-up, Bell Labs seeks to strengthen its capabilities in developing emerging technologies and broaden its R&D scope in Korea while SK Telecom aims to optimize network transmission and reduce network maintenance costs leveraging both companies' proprietary technologies, including interference control, network automation, and virtualization under multi-network environment. Further details regarding the value of the deal, however, were not yet disclosed.