[Courtesy of SK Telecom]
SEOUL -- Candidates for the first fifth-generation (5G) commercial service of South Korea's top mobile carrier, SK Telecom, include Gangnam, a finance and fashion district in Seoul, and Ansan, a southwestern industrial city.
South Korean companies hope to complete preparations for 5G services by the end of this year. SK Telecom has successfully carried out the so-called "First call" to check if data is being normally transmitted or received.
"We are checking various areas to commercialize 5G," an SK Telecom official said, adding Gangnam and Ansan are on a shortlist of candidates but a financial decision has yet to come. The company uses the non-standalone type 4.5GHz bandwidth with a maximum data transfer speed standing between 2Gbps and 5Gbps, at least seven times faster than the fourth-generation (4G) network.
Mobile industry officials said SK Telecom is conducting network maintenance simulations to set up a baseband unit each at a subway station in Gangnam and a high-tech industrial center in Ansan.
Top local telecom company KT is ready to start sending out 5G signals in December. "We will start sending out 5G signals in December as planned and commercialize a full 5G network in March next year with differentiated services," KT CEO Hwang Chang-gyu told reporters on Sunday.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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