Selling 5G Services Without Deploying 5G Network
LG U+ is under fire for beginning to receive subscriptions to its 5G services in areas where it has not established its 5G base stations.
LG U+ is activating customers’ 5G smartphones in Busan, even though it has not yet installed 5G base stations and repeaters in the city. The number of 5G base stations the carrier has deployed in Busan and South Gyeongsang Province area was zero as of April 3 according to data submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to lawmaker Byun Jae-il.
LG U+ plans to install 50,000 5G base stations across the nation by the first half of this year and 80,000 units by the end of this year. The mobile carrier had already attracted 25,000 5G subscribers by April 6 mainly in areas where their 5G equipment and systems were built.
The point is that LG U+ attracted customers for 5G services in Busan and other areas where it has not built a 5G network. "As LG U+ is now building a 5G network in the Busan area, you will be able to use 5G services before long," said an employee of the company’s sales agency in Busan. "A customer can buy a 5G smartphone and use 4G services for the time being. When 5G services begin, the customer will be able to use 5G services by switching to the 5G mode. As 5G services will be commercialized this year, many new content will come out, so from now on, customers need to buy the Galaxy S10."
But the official added, "To be honest with you, LG U+’s 5G services are not available yet in the Busan area. So, in Busan, LG U+ subscribers have no choice but to use 4G (LTE) services even if they buy 5G smartphones and 5G service plans.”
But the carrier said that it is not true that there is no 5G base station in Busan. It said it is building 5G base station in the area. "There was a delay in the construction of base stations due to a late 5G equipment supply from Nokia. We will build 80,000 base stations nationwide this year. We cannot set the date now but will release our 5G service coverage map in the near future."