South Korea’s KT is targeting a 5G commercial service launch in 2019.
South Korea’s second largest mobile operator KT said it expects to complete the construction of a trial “5G” network in certain areas of the country by September 2017, ahead of plans for a pilot service of this during the 2018 Winter Olympics, local press reported.
KT said it plans to install the 5G network in PyeongChang, the Olympic host city about 180 kilometers east of Seoul, its neighboring regions and parts of Seoul as a test bed of 5G network technologies. The operator plans to test the network for four to five months before it launches a trial 5G service in early February 2018.
Last month the telco said it would be the first operator to commercialize 5G in 2019, a year earlier than its previously stated target. The company in October set up the network for a test run in the Gwanghwamun area in downtown Seoul, and claims to have seen data transmission speeds of up to 2.3 gigabits per second. KT is collaborating with vendors including ZTE and Ericsson.
The carrier currently offers LTE services using spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.1 GHz bands, having initially launched LTE services in January 2012.
Nokia, Smart carry out “live” test of 5G technology in Manila
Nokia Philippine mobile operator Smart said they hit network speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps and latency of just 1 millisecond in a “live” 5G network trial using using 100 megahertz of spectrum.
The demo was conducted at Nokia’s Manila Technology Center in Quezon City. Smart said the demo is part of its plans to develop 5G capabilities by 2020.
