South Korea Started Its Path to 5G

South Korea has been seeking to become the world’s first country to provide commercial service for the 5G network.

There are three companies that agreed to bring 5G to South Korea: SK Telecom (SKT), KT, and LG Uplus.

Three Companies Offer 5G in South Korea

SKT(SK Telecom)

SKT 5G access is available for a manufacturing business in Ansan called Myunghwa Industry. The company also schedules to provide 5G to enterprise customers in Daejeon, Incheon, Daegu, Ulsan, Busan, and Gwangju.

In 2017, with an outdoor 5G trial in Seoul, and shortly after built out 5G technology in their autonomous driving city called K-City.

In 2018, their 5G test network enabled two cars to communicate with each other.

And in early 2019, they made their first live 5G TV broadcast. This 5G rollout will mark the end of their 2G services.

SKT is also part of a 5G smart factory alliance with over a dozen other companies. Announced in late 2018, the alliance was formed for two reasons: to investigate how 5G can improve factory performance and to support the government's plan to build tens of thousands of smart factories by 2022.

KT Corporation

KT Corporation launched its 5G network at Lotte World Tower in Seoul, plus several other areas including Ulleungdo, Jeju, and Dokdo. They aim to provide 5G coverage for over 80 cities before 2020 and will offer commercial 5G services in March 2019, with business sectors being the first to see 5G's benefits (smart factories, smart traffic networks, etc.).

Before their 5G rollout, KT and Intel showcased 5G at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. They've committed to a $20 billion investment through 2023 to research how to best utilize 5G.

LG Uplus

South Korean 5G provider LG Uplus is live with its 5G network in Seoul and some other nearby locations, and is on their way to wider coverage, having erected over 7,000 5G base stations in 2018. LG Uplus plans to provide 5G infrastructure in major cities before 2020. Their first 5G customer was LS Mtron.

When Is 5G Coming to South Korea?

SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus began their 5G services in South Korea that was two days earlier than previously announced the launch date would be April 5, when sales of Samsung’s 5G-enabled Galaxy S10 smartphone began.

Although 5G launched in South Korea, it's not available everywhere just yet.

SK Telecom's 5G network already covers 85 cities and communities, with 34,000 base stations installed across the nation.

The South Korean government's Ministry of Science and ICT predicts that by 2020, 30 percent of the country's mobile users will have access to a 5G network, with 90 percent coverage by 2026.

Conclusion

South Korea is one of the top consumers of the optical fiber. When it comes to the current South Korean 5G market, there are potential demands to 5G optical modules. 5G base stations will augment the global roll-out of FTTH networks over the coming years. There will be a need for high capacity fiber links to connect. Of course, the optical modules for 5G base stations were used to connect will be rapidly increasing. Gigalight 10G/25G industrial optical modules are enabling the highest bandwidth, highest density, lowest power, and lowest total cost interconnect solutions on the market today. We are ready to partner with you to push 5G. Let’s build the future of 5G  together.

Forecast that by 2020, most countries will have access to 5G networks.

5G is an attractive topic all the time. The speed of 5G is the significant advantage it has over 4G, which is what will allow 5G networks to change the way we live our everyday lives. With 5G, you will see the world as you've never seen it before.