Equipment for 5G Services
Yoo Young-min, minister of science and ICT said that he would discuss an issue that 5G equipment of some companies accounts for too high a percentage through consultations with Korean companies with respect to the commercialization of the world’s first 5G service in March of next year in a report on the Special Committee for the Fourth Industrial Revolution at the National Assembly on March 6.
Minister Yoo came up with the explanation in response to committee members’ indication that Korea may depend too much on foreign-made 5G equipment.
The special committee pointed out that Korean technology such as essential equipment should be used to commercialize 5G networks. This is because Korean-made 5G equipment lags behind equipment made by Huawei of China and Nokia of Finland. "If 5G networks are built in haste, there is a possibility that too high a proportion of equipment for the networks will be supplied by Huawei in China," said Hong Eui-rok, a lawmaker of the Minjoo Party. “There is also a criticism that Korea is helping foreign 5G equipment makers make money and grow."
"If a 5G network is not commercialized by March or the first half of next year at the latest, it will slow down Korea’s entry into various service markets or new device markets," minister Yoo said. "At the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world's largest mobile tech exhibition, I found out that Huawei equipment was the fastest. So, there is concern that Korea’s commercialization of a 5G network will do good to Huawei only. I will solve this problem in consultation with Korean companies."
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced a plan to jointly set up telecom facilities while preempting overseas markets by building a fair and healthy 5G ecosystem among telecommunications companies, large corporations and SMEs. The ministry believes that if telecom companies and large corporations invest in 5G network equipment with a lot of money and utilize it, telecom companies will be able to quickly and efficiently build 5G networks and commercialize them. The ministry predicts that the construction of 5G networks will create production inducement effects of 24 trillion won and 10,000 jobs a year by 2022.