ree mobile telecommunication companies -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- announced plans to build 230,000 units of 5G base station devices by the end of this year.
If base station equipment is prepared, it is expected that 5G service will be expanded early to 85 cities and provinces where 93% of South Korea's population is gathered.
On April 24, the government held a meeting of "public-private TF to inspect 5G services" to address inconveniences related to the use of 5G services by mobile carriers and manufacturers.
The Ministry of Science, Technology, Information and Communication has set a goal of supporting the establishment of nationwide networks by 2022. The number of 5G base stations built so far is 55,512 based on the number of devices and 117,751 based on the number of units in the capital and provincial areas.
However, 5G services in areas outside of Seoul are in unstable condition. Industry sources say that base station equipment from manufacturers that are planning to be built in local areas will be supplied smoothly starting from next month.
Currently, SK Telecom and KT have unveiled coverage maps, while LG Uplus is scheduled to unveil them on April 27. To ensure proper transmission speed of 5G, the 3 companies are currently working on optimizing mobile telecommunication.
They are planning to continue to push for stabilization of base stations, such as expansion of base stations, beam forming, and simultaneous use of 5G-LTE, and improvement of base station performance.
"We are going to continue to strengthen cooperation between the Government, mobile telecommunication businesses and manufacturers in order to improve quality of 5G services." said a representative for Ministry of Science, Technology, Information and Communication.
However, V50 ThinkQ and Galaxy Fold are going to be postponed until they are able to stabilize quality of 5G phones.
