South Korea becomes the first nation to launch 5G
promising a new wave of possibilities for smart phone users. South Korea’s top three mobile carriers, KT,
SK telecom and LG Uplus and US telco Verizon go live on Friday, April 5 th .
5G is the fifth generation of mobile internet connectivity. It will provide at least 10 times faster speed
than 4G. This means greater volumes of data can be transported with faster speed and hence more
devices can be connected to the network. Ed Barton, chief television and entertainment analyst at Ovum
said, “We’re expecting the leap from 4G to 5G to be a much greater leap than ever before”. He said 1G
enabled voice, 2G brought texts, 3G images and 4G enabled video.5G will bring higher quality streaming
and the ability to live stream to bigger audiences. It will enable more augmented reality capabilities,
such as mapping apps and shopping experiences. 5G is also crucial for the future development of
driverless cars.
On the same day, Samsung will release the Galaxy S10 5G, the world’s first smart phone which will use
5G. More than 3 million Koreans are expected to switch to 5G by the end of the year, predicted KT
telecoms vice president Lee Pil-Jae. Other developed nations such as U.S, Japan and Qatar are working
towards improving their network infrastructure and will launch 5G this year.
