When someone tells you that South Korea is one of the world’s most connected country, they’re actually telling the truth. It’s only been a month since the country began deploying the required infrastructure for 5G wireless networks, and already it has garnered more 260000 subscribers.
The total number of subscribers is an accumulation from three of South Korea’s biggest telcos – Korea Telecom (KT), SK Telecom, and LG U+. Of the three, KT holds the largest number of subscribers at 100000 users, while both SK Telecom and LG U+ have yet to disclose their respective subscriber count.
As much as South Korea is rapidly pushing for the adoption of 5G, the initiative isn’t without its own set of hurdles. According to the South Korean Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, the new mobile network requires a large number of base stations to actually be effective and provide the optimum coverage. To that end, the ministry already has more than 54000 5G base stations scattered across the country.
South Korea isn’t the only entity driving the 5G narrative either. Chinese telecommunications brand, Huawei, has also been aggressively marketing for its partners to adopt its 5G equipment. Unlike South Korea, however, the company is facing severe scrutiny from some countries (primarily from the US), due to the supposed ties of the brand’s CEO to the Chinese Communist Party.
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