South Korea’s 5G Subscribers top 5.77 Mil.
As of April 2, South Korea’s 5G subscribers topped 5.77 million with 115,000 base stations in operation nationwide, according to the data released by the Ministry of Science and ICT. In terms of the number of 5G subscribers, Korea ranked second in the world after China. Yet Korea has the highest penetration rate of 9.67 percent.
The rates of major foreign countries are 1.3 percent for Australia, 0.69 percent for China, 0.63 percent for the United States and 0.56 percent for United Kingdom, according to the GSMA.
Korea's 5G achievements are the result of steady investment by mobile service operators. In 2019, the capital expenditure (CAPEX) of the three Korean mobile operators reached 8.08 trillion won, about 60 percent increase from the previous year. Their CAPEX-to-sales ratio is 20.9 percent, which is about 6 percentage points higher than that of U.S. mobile carriers. SK Telecom's CAPEX increased 37 percent on year and its CAPEX-to-sales ratio stood at 25.5 percent, about 9.2 percentage points higher than that of Verizon in the United States.
Telecom industry experts say that the world's best 5G infrastructure in Korea will contribute to the Korean economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. Just as the Korean economy overcame the 1997 crisis and the global financial meltdown in 2008 through massive investment in CDMA technology and smartphones, 5G is expected to play a role in overcoming the COVID-19 crisis.
Korean mobile carriers have decided to increase their investment in 5G networks in the first half of 2020 by 50 percent from 2.7 trillion won to 4 trillion won. In addition, they are planning to expand coverage by installing 5G indoor base stations in about 2,000 sites including subways, airports, department stores, and small and medium-sized buildings.