South Korea Most Likely the First Country to Commercialize 5G Service

America’s telecommunication experts believe that South Korea is going to become the first country to commercialize 5G service.

According to results of a survey conducted by an American telecommunication media called Light Reading on 442 telecommunication experts, 50.45% (223) picked South Korea to become the first country to commercialize 5G service. There were also predictions that 5G service that is going to be commercialized by South Korea is going to be 100 times faster than 4G.

Light Reading announced that SK Telecom will start pilot service of 5G at the end of this year and provide demonstration at the end of next year. It reported that this is a year earlier than the initially reported date which is 2018.

This media also predicted that although Verizon is pushing for commercialization of 5G as a substitution of wired internet at the end of 2017, this 5G won’t be recognized as the first commercialized 5G service. Only 20.36% of 442 experts predicted that the U.S. will be the first country to commercialize 5G.

5G that is being pushed by Verizon is focusing on replacing wired internet rather than being mobile telecommunication. Because it costs a lot to install ultra-fast wired internet in the U.S. due to its vast amount of land, Verizon is planning to solve this problem with 5G. In other words, Verizon is planning to provide IPTV or UHD broadcasting service through 5G.

15% of experts predicted that Japan’s NTT DOCOMO will be the first one to commercialize 5G during 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Although China is also planning to introduce its 5G service during 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, only few experts predicted that China will be the first country to commercialize 5G.

A reason why most American telecommunication experts chose South Korea as the first country to commercialize South Korea is due to its advanced telecommunication technologies that South Korea has been showing. South Korea’s mobile telecommunication businesses have been dominating these markets by introducing variety of world’s first mobile telecommunication technologies such as 3G and 4G LTE.

South Korea’s mobile telecommunication businesses are also working fast on preparation for commercializing 5G. KT, which is an official sponsor of 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, is going to demonstrate 5G for the first time in the world during 2018 Olympics. KT, which completed standards for 5G demonstration in March of this year, is planning to install network for 5G service by June of next year and carry out tests starting from October when devices are expected to be supplied. Prior to these, KT is going to demonstrate its 2nd demonstration in February of next year at regions where Olympics is going to be held.

SK Telecom is going to carry out pilot test for 5G at the end of this year and is planning to demonstrate 5G service during second half of next year. Because it is not an official sponsor of 2018 Olympics, it is going to introduce 5G service at regions such as Seoul or others during 2018 Olympics.

LG Uplus, which is being quiet but showing some signs, is preparing for prototypes, VR, and drone linkage services. It is planning to secure high-frequency base stations that are above 6GHz along with Massive MIMO and high-capacity and ultra-low latency technology by end of this year. LG Uplus is planning to establish a test network by second half of 2017 and preparing for test services.

3GPP, which is an international standardization group, is going to complete developing first set of standards for 5G in September of 2018. Because South Korea is introducing 5G technologies before September of 2018, it needs to put in an effort that will have its technologies that will be introduced between 2017 and 2018 to become international standards.

Staff Reporter An, Hocheon | [email protected]