SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) today announced that it launched ‘NUGU Call,’ which enables users to make and receive calls between compatible NUGU devices or the NUGU app. As part of the sign-up process, the contacts list on user’s mobile phone is linked to the NUGU app. Among the list of contact, users can select the ones they wish to add to their NUGU Call contact.

Voice calls made from NUGU devices – NUGU, NUGU Mini, NUGU Candle – will be free of charge as they use wi-fi connections.

Through the application of SK Telecom’s ‘call quality enhancement processing technology,’ NUGU Call guarantees clear voice quality even when the user talks at a two-meter distance. Personalized Language Model (PLM) has been also applied to realize the highest level of speech recognition.

“With the launch of NUGU Call, SK Telecom has created an environment where customers can make and receive voice calls more conveniently regardless of time and location,” said Lee Hyun-a, Senior Vice President and Head of AI Technology Unit of SK Telecom. “SK Telecom will continue to upgrade NUGU by developing diverse AI-based communication services.”

TelecomTV comment: NUGU is SK Telecom's AI-powered voice assistant that it first unveiled back in 2016 and which powers its smart speaker range.