by Sarah Pereau | 23 Mar 2018
KT Corporation (“KT”), a South Korean telecommunications company, has confirmed that they will be launching a commercial 5G network in early 2019.
KT had demonstrated its 5G capabilities to visitors at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. KT joins carriers such as T-Mobile and Sprint that are aiming for a 2019 release of their commercial 5G networks to ensure delivery of the “perfect service.”
During tests of the 5G network, EVP of KT, Hong-Beom Jeon, stated that “KT recorded a peak of 3.5 Gbps on a 5G Samsung tablet.” While there’s an increasing anticipation of 5G rollout among many commercial users, there is also a concern for lack of 5G-capable devices. Operators are expecting delivery of “devices supporting 5G technology to be sometime near the end of this year and early 2019.”
Other Korean carriers and operators, such as LG, are currently focusing on commercial 5G trials and are expected to “invest more than $9.36 billion in 5G network technology.” The Korean government is set to auction off 5G spectrums later this year.
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