Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), the world’s second-largest shipbuilder, and Korea’s top mobile carrier, SK Telecom (SKT), have teamed up to develop ICT-based “smart ships.”

In a statement Tuesday, SKT said it signed a memorandum of understanding with DSME to cooperate in a research and development (R&D) venture to build the high-tech, next-generation ships.

The vessel will be equipped with a global telecommunication network based on navigation and monitoring systems, while all the on-board services will be converged onto a single network.

Under the alliance, SKT will provide ICT guidelines, optimized blueprints and R&D resources, while DSME will share the needs of ship owners and smart ship-related research achievements.

“By sharing our ICT technology and successfully developing a smart ship, we want to upgrade DSME’s competiveness as well as the Korean shipbuilding industry,” said Lee Myung-geun, head of SKT’s corporate business division.

Their main task will be building a multi-connected system in areas of ship-monitoring, automation and unmanned services, as well as safety and security.

Eom Hang-seop, managing director of strategic planning at DSME, said that the shipbuilder was already in the process of developing the smart ship.

“We have been cooperating with overseas system developers and classification societies since 2010. Through the alliance with SKT, we believe that we can solve the wired and wireless communication issues now.”

Priority will be given to produce visible results within this year. In a bid to make a mark in the newly emerging technology market, the two will find “quick-win” areas, where such technologies as Internet Of Tings (IOT), GPS and LTE can be quickly commercialized.

The alliance is the second such cooperative venture.

Previously the two had agreed to construct an LET-based Smart Shipyard at Okpo, South Gyeongsang Province, in 2011. An embedded LTE smart grid enabled the shipbuilder to do quality control and track down the shipping of materials in real time through smartphones and tablet PCs.