The government said that 5G subscribers will probably account for 5% of total base by 2020
South Korea aims to complete the deployment of a commercial 5G mobile network in the second half of 2019, Heo Won-seok, director of ICT and Broadcasting Technology Policy at South Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, said during a keynote presentation at the Global 5G Event, taking place this week in Tokyo, Japan.
The official said that the Korean government estimates that 5G technology will have a penetration rate of nearly 5% in the country in 2020, the year in which 5G is expected to be launch in several markets worldwide.
Heo also said that 5G subscribers will represent 30% of total mobile subscribers in South Korea in 2021, 50% in 2020 and 90% in 2026.
In order to pave the way for the commercial launch of 5G by local operators, the government has plans to allocate spectrum in two years, the officials said. Heo also said that the commercial launch in South Korea will be the world’s first commercial 5G offering.
Operators aim to launch a 5G trial service for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will take place in the city of PyeongChang. The official also highlighted that local telecoms operators will start building trial networks in this city as well as in capital Seoul in the
With the long-stated goal of having a trial 5G service running in 2018 for the Winter Olympics, he said the country’s operators will start to build a trial network in PyeongChang and Seoul in the second half of 2017.
Heo also said the authorities aim to have autonomous buses in operation for the Winter Olympics Games.
South Korea’s second largest mobile operator KT previously said it expects to complete the construction of a trial 5G network in certain areas of the country by September 2017, ahead of plans for a pilot service of this during the Winter Games.
The operator plans to test the network for four to five months before it launches a trial 5G service in early February 2018.
In October 2016, the telco had set up the network for a test run in the Gwanghwamun area in downtown Seoul, and claims to have seen data transmission speeds of up to 2.3 gigabits per second. KT is collaborating with vendors including ZTE and Ericsson.
Other mobile operators in the country are SK Telecom and LG U+
