South Korea had ended 2021 with 20.9 million subscribers in the 5G segment
South Korea ended last year with a total of 28.06 million 5G subscribers, an increase of nearly 600% compared to some 4.6 million in 2019, local press reported.
According to the report, the Asian nation ended 2021 with 20.9 million 5G subscribers while the number of 5G users at the end of 2020 had reached 11.8 million.
Meanwhile, LTE subscribers reached 46.2 million subscribers at end-2022, down 4.3% from 48.28 million the previous year.
South Korea was the first country to launch commercial 5G networks in April 2019 and currently has 5G coverage across its 85 cities.
In June 2018, the ICT ministry completed an auction for 5G frequencies in which local carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus secured spectrum to launch 5G services in the Asian nation.
SK Telecom and KT each won 100 megahertz in the 3.5 GHz band while LG Uplus had obtained a bloc of 80 megahertz of spectrum.
In July 2022, LG Uplus secured an additional 20 megahertz of spectrum to use for 5G. The Ministry of Science and ICT had said it would allocate the 3.4-3.42 GHz frequency band to LG Uplus, in addition to the 3.42 to 3.5 GHz spectrum that the telecom company bought in 2018. LG Uplus had previously asked the Korean government for an additional 20 megahertz of spectrum to boost its 5G offerings.
Last week, The Korean government announced plans to award spectrum in the 28 GHz band to a new mobile operator in a move to boost competition in the domestic mobile market.
The new operator will be given the priority to use one of the two frequency bands in the 28 GHz band, while the other band will be allocated three years after the first operator launches the service, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The new operator will be the only service provider in the 28 GHz band during an initial three-year period in order to be able to secure its market position. Financial benefits, including tax benefits and loans, will also be provided to the new entrant, the ministry added.
The ICT ministry also highlighted that it will start the process to select a new 5G operator in the second quarter of 2023.
At the beginning of this month, the Korean government effectively cancelled the spectrum licenses in the 28 GHz band that had been previously allocated to local operators for 5G deployments, due to the lack of investment and missed rollout requirements.
As a result, local operators KT and LG Uplus lost the right to use the 28 GHz frequencies they had won in a spectrum auction in 2018. Meanwhile, South Korea’s largest mobile operator, SK Telecom, had its use time of the 28 GHz spectrum reduced by six months. The telco will also lose the right to use the spectrum completely if it fails to deploy 15,000 radio stations that use the 28 GHz spectrum by the end of May 2023.
