South Korea’s major telecom firms are coming together to establish a collaborative 5G network in rural areas, providing widespread access to 5G connectivity.
The completion of this joint network, utilized by three telecom companies, marks the final phase of commercialization, accomplishing the goal two months ahead of schedule.
As per the Ministry of Science and ICT’s announcement on Thursday, SK Telecom Co., KT Corp., and LG Uplus Corp. have successfully established a collaborative 5G network in rural regions, completing the project two months ahead of the initial timeline set for the first half of this year.
The completion of the joint 5G network, in which the three telecom companies share communication infrastructure in rural areas, signifies the culmination of the nationwide 5G network deployment, which encompasses all rural territories.
This achievement raises anticipation regarding potential reductions in 5G coverage gaps in rural zones and improvements in 5G speeds, which currently stand at half the speed experienced in urban areas like Seoul.
The Ministry of Science and ICT has outlined plans to continue monitoring the stability and quality of the network in the covered rural areas to ensure enhanced network reliability and performance.
This collaborative effort means that rather than each telecommunication company independently constructing its network infrastructure across all regions, they have divided rural areas into farming and fishing villages, where they collectively establish communication networks, supporting network sharing among the three companies.
In areas where a specific carrier lacks a communication network, 5G services are provided through third-party communication networks. The Ministry of Science and ICT initiated a plan to jointly implement 5G in rural areas in April 2021, proceeding with commercialization in three stages.
This three-stage commercialization targeted 432 towns and villages across 52 counties, completing the establishment of a comprehensive 5G national network, encompassing farming and fishing villages, along with 85 city administrative districts. These efforts were made in conjunction with the construction of individual networks by the three telecommunication companies.
According to the Ministry of Science and ICT’s 2023 communication service coverage inspection and quality evaluation, the download speed of the 5G network in rural areas was recorded at 510.43Mbps, approximately half the download speed observed in Seoul, which stood at 1092.62 Mbps.
Kim Kyung-man, a communication policy officer at the Ministry of Science and ICT, expressed satisfaction with the accelerated expansion of 5G mobile communication services in rural regions, highlighting ongoing efforts by the telecom companies to enhance network quality.
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