South Korea recently became one of the world’s first country to start offering commercial 5G services. Now, due to strong demand for the latest gadgets and aggressive promotion strategy, it will reportedly have more than one million 5G mobile subscribers this week.
For those who are unaware, South Korea was the first country in the world to launch full-fledged 5G commercial services on April 5, even before China. As of Wednesday, the number of subscribers to the service stood at around 800,000 and is now believed to have topped 900,000 over the weekend. The number of subscribers in May, around 778,000 represented a massive growth when compared to around 271,000 subscribers by the end of April 2019.
The 5G technology is aiming to provide super fast connection speeds, low latency and the ability to connect many more devices without the network being bogged down. However, there are still some issues over the coverage and the speed of this next-generation wireless communication system.
But the report indicates that the complaints were widely expected in the initial stages of the operations as the operators are still building 5G base stations and upgrading software to fix technical flaws and improve network efficiency.
The minimum cost or the starting price of the 5G tariff in South Korea is 55,000 won, which roughly converts to 325 Yuan or $48 for the three network operations — SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+.
While the basic package of 55,000 won from SK Telecom and KT offers 8GB of data, LG U+ offers 9GB of data. However, the data limited gets significantly increased when the user opts for the higher plan.
For instance, the package worth 75,000 won (approximately 444 Yuan or $66) offers 150GB on SK Telecom and LG U+ and the package costing 95,000 won (approximately 562 Yuan or $84) offers 200GB and 250GB data.
On the other hand, the third network operation — KT offers unlimited data service in packages worth 80,000 won and more, which roughly converts to 473 Yuan or $70. However, it then caps the speed in roaming.
Read More: China has now started issuing 5G licenses to commence operations
The South Korea-based network operators weren’t going to set the minimum pricing for the 5G network but the government forced the companies to do so. Thus, in order to obtain the required government approvals to being the 5G service in South Korea, all the three companies decided to set 55,000 won as the minimum package pricing for the 5G network.
(Source)
