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South Korea routinely tops the global league tables for both download speeds and network availability
The South Korean government has urged network operators and carriers to speed up the deployment of 5G technology in the country by utilising closer collaboration.
“Mobile carriers should actively share their infrastructure to lower each other’s burden on new investment and to accelerate [5G development],” said South Korea’s minister of science and ICT, Yoo Young-min.
Speaking at a meeting with the heads of Korea’s telcos, Yoo Young-min called on KT, who own the majority of Korea’s telecoms infrastructure, to heed this call.
“We especially ask for KT’s help in opening up core landline infrastructure such as utility poles and cable ducts.”
According to a report published in the Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper, KT owns over 72% of the cable ducts in Korea.
South Korea is routinely at the top of the global league tables for download speeds and network availability. A recent report by OpenSignal showed that South Korea was the best country in the world for 4G availability, with residents in the country being able to access a 4G signal 96.69% of the time. Customers on South Korea’s 4G networks average download speeds of 45.85Mbps.
The South Korean government has publicly stated that it aims to roll out its first commercial 5G services by March 2019, with full coverage across the entire country expected no later than 2022.
