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| SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho, center, poses for a photo with company officials and the firm's business partners after pressing a switch to send the first 5G signal, Saturday. / Courtesy of SK Telecom |
By Jun Ji-hye
SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus, which started the world's first commercial fifth-generation (5G) network services Saturday, still need to deal with a huge amount of tasks before offering full-scale services in March when smartphone users will be able to use the latest wireless technology.
The three mobile carriers began to provide 5G services using mobile routers first. Mobile routers are devices providing mobile connections for Wi-Fi devices.
The telecom firms' next-generation network services are currently focused on business uses as there are no smartphones that can utilize 5G networks yet. The 5G services for general customers will begin in earnest when 5G smartphones will be released around March.
Up to that time, mobile carriers need to create "killer" content and services to attract users who currently use the long-term evolution (LTE), or 4G networks, services.
How well firms attract more users will decide how well they make up for their enormous investments into the construction of the 5G networks.
Companies have moved to create services related to self-driving cars, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), but a problem is most of the services are still in the experimental stage.
"We have been carrying out a variety of projects and pilot services in preparation for offering more attractive 5G services, though uncertainty still remains," said an official from a telecom company.
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| A KT engineer tests a 5G base station installed at Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. / Courtesy of KT |
Telecom firms also need to draw up effective fee systems for 5G services.
SK Telecom, the top mobile carrier, which needs government approval for its fee system, has yet to submit its proposal to the Ministry of Science and ICT.
Industry sources said 5G fees are expected to be more expensive than LTE, as data use per person is expected to increase considerably.
Again this depends on the attractiveness of 5G, as customers will not feel a need to use it if the services are not significantly different from LTE services.
LG Uplus, the smallest of the three players, has another difficult task on hand as it needs to overcome the controversy over security concerns surrounding Huawei's network equipment.
SK Telecom and KT excluded the Chinese company from their 5G partners, picking Samsung Electronics, Nokia and Ericsson as suppliers of their network equipment amid security concerns related to the Chinese devices.
But LG Uplus included the Chinese firm among its 5G partners.
U.S. agencies have long suspected the Chinese government or military may have installed backdoors in Huawei equipment for surveillance, citing the fact that Huawei's founder is a former officer in the People's Liberation Army.
During a National Assembly audit, Oct. 26, LG Uplus CEO Ha Hyun-hwoi told lawmakers, "We have a security management system," saying his firm can verify the Chinese firm's supply chain and source codes of its equipment.
Huawei Korea CEO Shawn Meng also said during a National Assembly audit, Oct. 29, "Source codes are a core information resource of a company, but if LG Uplus makes a request, we are willing to actively cooperate in accordance with legal procedures."
