South Korea ended April with a total of 15.15 million 5G subscribers, local news agency Yonhap reported, citing data from the Ministry of Science and ICT.
5G subscribers at the end of April accounted for 21.25% of the total 71.27 million mobile subscriptions in the country, according to the report.
The latest figure marks a slowdown in 5G user growth compared with the start of the year. The country added around 671,000 5G subscriptions during April, compared with a net addition of over 1 million 5G users during January.
The country’s largest carrier SK Telecom ended April with a total of 7.07 million subscribers in the 5G segment, followed by KT with 4.6 million and LG Uplus with 3.47 million.
Korean operators have been pushing for a rapid user migration to 5G networks from 4G, launching relatively more affordable 5G data plans in recent months.
Also, the launch of new devices, including Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S21 series, has also boosted user adoption of 5G.
South Korean telecom operators currently provide 5G services via NonStandalone 5G networks, which depend on previous 4G LTE networks. The country’s three operators launched 5G technology in April 2019, and 5G networks are available mostly in large cities.
SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus are currently preparing to commercialize new 5G technology, including Standalone versions of the 5G networks and millimeter-wave 5G, according to recent reports.
The mmWave 5G service will be initially available for the business-to-business segment. Operators have not yet finalized investment plans for the business-to-consumer sector, as the cost of building additional infrastructure still represents a major issue, according to the reports.
In July of 2020, Korean mobile operators SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus agreed to invest a total of KRW 25.7 trillion ($22 billion) through 2022 to boost 5G infrastructure across the country.
Despite the rapid progress in 5G deployments, subscribers have been criticizing the poor quality of 5G services. Nearly 1,000 5G smartphone users in South Korea have recently expressed interest in taking legal action against the country’s three major telecom operators due to the alleged poor quality of the service.
