For World’s First
The South Korean government held the eighth Information & Communications Strategic Committee meeting on December 27. There, the government and major South Korean mobile carriers decided to invest one trillion won so that they can launch the world’s first commercial 5G services in 2020. They are also planning to expand the size of the 5G service market to 62 trillion won between 2020 and 2026 by means of 5G-based virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence services and the like and post at least 427 trillion won in sales from 2020 to 2026 in the global 5G equipment and terminal market.
5G mobile communication is characterized by its data transmission speed at least 100 times that of LTE. Such a high speed is being regarded as a prerequisite for convergence services such as that between self-driving cars and AI
The South Korean government is going to set up test networks at the venue of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Seoul in the second half of next year so trial 5G services can be available at the Olympics before the commercialization scheduled for 2020. The network establishment is to be led by the three major mobile carriers and at least 60% of the one trillion won investment is likely to be spent for the purpose. The government is to carry out 5G frequency allocation in the first half of 2019, too.
“This series of plans is for South Korea to become the global leader by 2026 in terms of 5G communication terminal market share and the competitiveness of essential patents,” the ministry explained, adding, “It is to take up at least 15% of the global 5G equipment market as well.”