South Korea's high-speed 5G mobile revolution gives way to evolution
South Korea was the first country to launch a fifth-generation mobile network in 2019, heralding a warp-speed technological transformation to self-driving cars and smart cities. Three years on, the giddy promises are unfulfilled.
Some 45% of the country's people are now on 5G, one of the highest rates globally, after some $20 billion in spending on network upgrades that have boosted connection speeds five-fold. But telecommunications companies have not been willing to invest in the fancier technology that would ramp speeds by 20 times over 4G technology.
That is because the demand is not there yet. App makers have not brought to mass market services like autonomous driving that would require more firepower. Customers can watch Netflix and surf the net well enough with existing 5G technology.
Telcos have adapted by diversifying. To make the quantum leap to the highest-speed 5G will require the roll-out of essential services that need such fast connections.
"When households begin to have robots at their homes, for instance, telcos would then start ramping up infrastructure investments, so the highest-speed 5G will be partially available around 2025," said Kim Hyun-yong, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities.
The lesson for other countries racing toward 5G may be: curb your enthusiasm. The new technology holds great promise, but for now there will still be as much evolution as revolution in the high-speed internet future.
In April 2019, South Korea’s three mobile carriers - with a PR campaign featuring K-pop stars and an Olympic gold medallist - as well as Verizon Communications of the United States - rushed their commercial 5G launches ahead of schedule, all keen to claim first spot in the high-profile wireless technology.
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