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Tag: telecom

  • China Mobile is world’s most valuable telco brand

    China Mobile is world’s most valuable telco brand

    China Mobile is the most valuable telecoms brand in Asia-Pacific, and the third most valuable in the world, according to Brand Finance’s latest Telecoms 300 brand value report.

    China Mobile’s brand value has increased 4.6% in 2019 to $53.22 billion, cementing its position behind AT&T ($87 billion) and Verizon ($71.15 billion) on the top 20 leaderboards.

    Other Asia-Pacific operators in the top 20 include Japan’s NTT Group (5th with a brand value of $41.67 billion), China Telecom (9th, $20.63 billion), Japan’s SoftBank (10th, $19.29 billion) and au (11th, $16.62 billion), Australia’s Telstra (14th, $10.5 billion), and China Unicom (16th, $10.23 billion).

    But with the exception of China Mobile and au, whose position on the leaderboard remained unchanged, all the Asia-Pacific operators in the list fell either one or two places.

    Further down the list, Vietnam’s Viettel had a strong performance, with its brand value increasing by 36% to $4.3 billion, while Ooredoo increased to 41st on the top 50 rankings with a 12% increase in brand value to $3.78 billion.

    The report also ranked telecoms brands by relative strength based on metrics including marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance.

    By these criteria, Thailand’s AIS was named the world’s strongest telecoms brand, overtaking China Mobile. Malaysia’s Digi was ranked as the third largest brand, while relative newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm from India was named fifth. Telkom Indonesia (8th) and Singtel (9th) also made the top 10.

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  • Trump signs order paving way for Huawei ban

    Trump signs order paving way for Huawei ban

    US president Donald Trump has signed an executive order paving the way for banning Chinese vendors including Huawei from supplying equipment for US telecommunications networks.

    The executive order declares a national emergency to give Trump the authority to regulate commerce and directs the Commerce Department to draw up an enforcement plan within 150 days.

    It has been designed to protect US telecommunications supply chain from foreign adversaries. While the order does not specifically name any countries or companies, it has been specifically promoted by members of Congress as being aimed at companies including Huawei, which has been labeled a security threat by US officials.

    The US government has been pressuring allies to prohibit Chinese vendors from supplying equipment for 5G rollouts, citing concerns that their equipment could be used by the Chinese government to spy on the communications of foreign nations. Countries including Australia have already yielded to this pressure.

    Meanwhile, Huawei, which has repeatedly denied any allegations that its equipment could be used this way, has separately revealed it is willing to sign no-spying pacts with governments to alleviate these concerns.

    The agreements, which could be negotiated with nation states including the UK, would involve the company committing to meet no-spy, no-backdoors standards.

    But Reuters cited comments from the German government pointing out that there is no indication that the Chinese government itself is offering such an agreement.

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  • Ooredoo Myanmar signs 5G agreement with ZTE

    Ooredoo Myanmar signs 5G agreement with ZTE

    Ooredoo Myanmar has signed an agreement with ZTE to collaborate on 5G network deployment as part of the operator’s network modernization program.

    The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding that will cover Ooredoo Myanmar’s 5G evolution from trials through to commercial deployment.

    During the first stage of the partnership, Ooredoo Myanmar and ZTE will evaluate potential test environments for Ooredoo’s 5G network. The network tests will be used to evaluate the performance of the 5G network ahead of commercial deployments.

    “It is a great pleasure to announce our MOU with ZTE Corporation, one of the leaders in advanced telecommunications technology,” Ooredoo Myanmar acting CEO Alok Verma said.

    “Ooredoo is the first telecom operator in Myanmar to launch initiatives towards 5G development, recognizing the potential of 5G, which will unlock the next generation of wireless technology with high speeds, ultra-low latency and greater capacities, unleashing new possibilities in mobility, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation and several other industries.”

    Ooredoo Myanmar’s parent company Ooredoo launched what it claims as the first live 5G network in Qatar during May last year. The company plans to arrange more 5G trials and commercial launches across its operating companies around the world over the next few months.

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  • Batelco completes structural separation

    Batelco completes structural separation

    Bahrain’s Batelco has completed its structural separation into wholesale and retail entities as part of the government’s fourth National Telecommunication Plan.

    Following the separation process, Batelco’s new infrastructure company NBNetco will work with the government to deploy a single national broadband and fiber backhaul infrastructure that will aim to provide all residents of the kingdom with high-speed internet access.

    Meanwhile retail entity Batelco Bahrain will take over the company’s retail and enterprise operations.

    Batelco has appointed Mohamed Bubashait as the CEO of NBNetco, and Mikkel Vinter as the new CEO of Batelco Bahrain.

    Both companies will continue to be owned by Batelco, but will be operated independently.

    The separation process has also involved the restructuring of executive management teams of the separated entities, as well as the separation of operational systems and human resources functions.

    Batelco chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa commented that the company expects that the separation will create new horizons for Batelco and opportunities to invest in digital technology.

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  • Consumers willing to pay a premium for 5G

    Consumers willing to pay a premium for 5G

    Despite concerns surrounding the commercial proposition of 5G technology, smartphone users are willing to pay an average of a 20% premium for 5G services, according to Ericsson.

    The company’s latest ConsumerLab report on the 5G consumer potential finds that half of the early adopters would be willing to pay as much as 32% more for 5G.

    But consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for 5G is reliant on operators introducing new use cases and payment models and providing a consistently high uplink and downlink speed, the report finds.

    Meanwhile, 5G is expected to drive usage behaviors that also promise to increase revenues. The study finds that 5G is expected to significantly increase video consumption, both by enabling streaming in higher resolutions and through the increased use of augmented reality, virtual reality, and other new formats.

    Ericsson predicts that one in five smartphone users’ data usage could reach more than 200GB per month over 5G devices by 2025.

    Consumers also expect that 5G will bring additional benefits such as reducing network congestion in dense urban areas and introducing more home broadband choices.

    Based on the research, Ericsson ConsumerLab has drawn up a consumer roadmap of 5G use cases involving 31 different applications and services.

    These applications are divided into six categories – entertainment and media; enhanced mobile broadband; gaming and AR/VR applications; smart home and fixed wireless access; automotive and transportation; and shopping and immersive communications.

    “Trough our research, we have busted four myths about consumers’ views on 5G and answered questions such as whether 5G features will require new types of devices, or whether smartphones will be the silver bullet for 5G,” Ericsson Research head of ConsumerLab Jasmeet Singh Sethi said.

    “Consumers clearly state that they think smartphones are unlikely to be the sole solution for 5G.”

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  • Vietnam makes its very first 5G phone call

    Vietnam makes its very first 5G phone call

    Vietnam’s first 5G phone call was made Friday on the network of Viettel, the country’s largest telecommunications company. The trial called, made publicly with the participation of the Ministry of Information and Communications, showed that the speed of Viettel’s 5G mobile network connections reached 1.5-1.7 Gigabits per second, far exceeding the theoretical limit of the 4G network and equivalent to the speed of optical cable.

    Viettel said it will expand the test to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the nation’s two biggest cities, and expects to launch the commercial service in 2020. The military-run company said it is looking at many pricing plans for commercial 5G services.

    Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, who led Viettel earlier, said the event marked Vietnam as one of the earliest nations in the world to successfully test the 5G network, after the U.S., Australia, Japan, and South Korea.

    “We all want to take the lead in the fourth industrial revolution and develop information and communications technology so that Vietnamese locals and businesses can compete in the global economy, and therefore, the earlier we launch the 5G service, the better,” he said.

    Viettel became the first firm to receive permission to trial 5G services in January. It was followed by MobiFone.

    Last November, Hung said at a conference that Vietnam should test 5G in 2019 and ensure nationwide coverage by 2020.

    “Vietnam should be one of the first countries to launch the network, at least in Hanoi and HCMC,” he had said. The country had been one of the last in Southeast Asia to roll out 4G services.

    5G is the latest generation of mobile Internet connectivity and should offer much faster speeds and more reliable connections on smartphones and other devices compared to the current 3G and 4G technologies.

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  • Spectrum cash grabs could hinder 5G’s potential

    Spectrum cash grabs could hinder 5G’s potential

    Poorly designed 5G spectrum auctions could seriously hamper the potential of the 5G era before it even begins in earnest, the GSMA has warned.

    A new Auction Best Practice by the industry body highlights some key concerns from recent 4G and 5G spectrum allocations, including a trend towards governments artificially inflating spectrum prices.

    This could have the effect of limiting subsequent network investment, thus harming consumers and delaying the potential of 5G from materializing.

    The GSMA has also outlined policy recommendations for governments including ensuring that the top priority for spectrum auctions is supporting affordable, quality mobile services for consumers.

    According to the regulator, spectrum auctions are not always suitable and should not be the only award process considered.

    Where an auction model is used, the auction design should not create unnecessary risk and uncertainty for bidders and should include adequate lot sizes with flexible packages of the spectrum.

    GSMA Intelligence estimates that the socio-economic impact of 5G will be $2.2 trillion over the next 15 years. But these benefits will depend on a favorable regulatory and policy environment for 5G.

    “Auctions can and do fail when poorly designed. We’re seeing a worrying trend of badly run spectrum awards that could seriously impact the potential of 5G before we get started. It’s time for policymakers to work more closely with stakeholders to enable more timely, fair and effective awards,” GSMA head of spectrum Brett Tarnutzer said.

    “This is a crucial time in the development of 5G. Spectrum is an essential to fuel for mobile networks and its ineffective use will only lead to bad consequences for consumers. The most important objective of awarding frequencies should not be about making the most money, but rather about ensuring consumers benefit from the best mobile connectivity.”

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  • Airtel to merge VSAT business with Hughes India

    Airtel to merge VSAT business with Hughes India

    India’s Bharti Airtel has agreed to merge its domestic satellite operations with Hughes Network Systems’ Indian subsidiary Hughes Communications India.

    The companies will combine their very small aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite operations in a bid to benefit from enhanced scale, improved operational efficiencies and wider market reach.

    Under the agreement, Hughes will take a majority stake in the combined entity, with Airtel owning a significant minority stake.

    The combined company will continue to serve existing Hughes and Airtel customers while introducing new VSAT and related technologies in the Indian market.

    “We are very excited about the synergies that this partnership will bring to the Indian ecosystem,” Hughes Communications India president Partho Banerjee said.

    “These are exciting times for satellite broadband service providers as VSAT becomes more mainstream, driven by growing demand from both, enterprise and government segments.”

    Airtel Business director and CEO Ajay Chitkara added that the tie-up is aimed at better serving the connectivity needs of what he called Digital India.

    “The partnership will bring amazing synergies to the forefront and combine the proven capabilities of both the companies. Customers can look forward to highly secure and reliable connectivity solutions across the length and breadth of India,” he said.

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  • China Mobile USA’s license application denied

    China Mobile USA’s license application denied

    As expected, the US Federal Communications Commission today voted to deny China Mobile’s application to provide telecom services between the US and foreign destinations. The vote was unanimous.

    China Mobile USA filed an application back in 2011 requesting authority to provide international facilities-based and resale services in the US, but it wasn’t until last year that the government made a recommendation on behalf of the executive branch to deny the application due to national security and law enforcement concerns.

    In the order adopted today, the FCC said it found that China Mobile USA did not demonstrate that its application was in the public interest. In fact, the FCC found that due to several factors related to China Mobile USA’s ownership and control by the Chinese government, granting such an application would raise substantial and serious national security risks.

    Several commissioners also called on the agency to do more in terms of protecting the nation’s telecom security, especially in light of 5G coming down the pike.

    Commissioner Brendan Carr said the Chinese government owns a number of other carriers that already are operating in the US, including China Unicom and China Telecom, and those companies hold the same Section 214 authorization that China Mobile sought. “Our national security agencies should examine whether the FCC should revoke those existing Section 214 authorizations, and the FCC should open a proceeding on those matters,” he said.

    Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the need for strong FCC action to address security vulnerabilities has never been greater. “As we move into a world of 5G and the Internet of Things, and our network grows larger and more interconnected than ever, real risks and the potential harm of telecom network vulnerabilities will grow exponentially,” he said, before raising a number of questions he said need to be answered, including how to address the continued operation of 2G and 3G networks with known cybersecurity flaws.

    Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel also made a call to action. “We are at an inflection point as the world races to deploy next-generation wireless networks,” she said. “With 5G service, we will have wireless capability built into the world around us. This will provide a whole new range of opportunities for civic and commercial life. But as they multiply, this will vastly expand our surface exposure to attack.”

    Chairman Ajit Pai was part of a US delegation that last week attended an international conference on 5G network security hosted by the Czech Republic. There was a broad consensus at that meeting that network security is not only a priority but a necessity, he said. The conference produced a set of 5G security principles that reflect a common understanding of the importance of security in 5G.

    Pai also joined several other Administration officials yesterday in a detailed briefing of members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and while he said he can’t discuss what transpired in the meeting, “I can say that at the intersection of national security and communications lies a strong bipartisan consensus in favor of proactive measure to protect our networks at the front end, not as an afterthought,” he said.

    Separately, the commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes to reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band for terrestrial fixed and mobile (except aeronautical mobile) use on a shared basis with existing federal users. The NPRM also seeks comment on appropriate service and technical rules for the band.

  • Singapore’s IMDA consulting on 5G policy framework

    Singapore’s IMDA consulting on 5G policy framework

    Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has launched a public consultation on the appropriate regulatory framework for 5G, with the goal of enabling commercial deployments by 2020.

    The regulator is seeking feedback from the telecommunications industry and the public on the best approach to 5G spectrum allocation, the baseline requirements for spectrum winners and driving the development of the broader 5G ecosystem.

    IMDA plans to allocate the 3.5-GHz and the 26-GHz to 28-GHz frequency bands as the initial 5G bands during the first wave of spectrum allocations, the regulator said. The regulator says this will be sufficient for at least two nationwide 5G networks.

    The initial allocation is expected to involve a call for proposal process, whereby mobile operators submit detailed proposals on nationwide 5G deployment plans.

    The proposals will be assessed based on factors including ability to meet baseline requirements such as rollout and performance targets, and the applicant’s financial capacity to roll out the proposed 5G networks.

    Finally, the IMDA has proposed to work with the industry to support the development of innovative 5G use cases, as well as 5G engineering manpower.

    “This public consultation is an important step in IMDA’s plans to launch 5G mobile networks and develop a vibrant 5G ecosystem in Singapore,” IMDA chief executive Tan Kiat How said.

    “I encourage interested parties to share your views with us. These insights will guide our regulatory approach and industry development efforts in ensuring Singapore’s connectivity infrastructure remains globally competitive in support of our Digital Economy ambitions.”

  • Globe Q1 profit grows 44%

    Globe Q1 profit grows 44%

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has reported a 44% year-on-year increase in net profit for the first three months of 2019 to 6.7 billion pesos ($129.1 million), partly as a result of strong data revenue growth.

    The company reported revenue for the quarter of 36 billion pesos, up 13% year-on-year. Growth was mainly fueled by increasing data usage across the operator’s service offerings.

    Mobile revenue grew 11% to 27 billion pesos, with mobile data revenues reaching 16.5 billion pesos, representing 61% of gross service revenues. Total mobile data traffic surged to 370 petabytes for the quarter.

    But mobile voice revenues fell 15% to 6.3 billion pesos, with SMS revenues down 22% to 4.2 billion pesos.

    Globe’s home broadband business reported 21% higher revenue of 5.2 billion pesos, with the company’s total subscriber base increasing 22% year-on-year to 1.7 million. Of these, 63% are fixed wireless subscribers. Enterprise data revenues grew 16% year-on-year to 2.7 billion pesos.

    Globe’s capex for the quarter reached 8.8 billion pesos, representing 24% of topline revenues.

    “As we continue to invest in our LTE network, we are also excited with the growth opportunities of our 5G commercial pilot launch in June this year,” Globe CEO Ernest Cu commented.

    “Through this launch, we will be able to offer our customers a whole new ecosystem of devices to enhance the way they experience data to the home. This is in line with our proven strategy of making our customers a priority, by providing them a superior digital and network experience, despite all the industry challenges that we face ahead.”

     

  • 32 countries agree on 5G security guidelines

    32 countries agree on 5G security guidelines

    Participants from 32 countries from Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific have agreed on a set of proposals for security guidelines in 5G networks, in a move that could spell further trouble for Huawei.

    As part of a non-binding agreement known as the Prague Proposals released during the Prague 5G Security Conference, representatives agreed on an outline of a potential coordinated approach to securing 5G networks.

    Officials from South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Israel, the UK and a number of European markets signed the non-binding agreement.

    The proposals state that security of 5G networks is “crucial for national security, economic security and other national interests and global stability,” and stresses the importance of the development of “adequate national strategies, sound policies, a comprehensive legal framework and dedicated personnel, who are trained and educated appropriately.”

    Notably, one of the policy proposals involves ensuring that the “overall risk of influence on a supplier by a third country [is] taken into account.”

    While no vendors were mentioned, the US, one of the signatories to the proposals, has been pressuring its allies to restrict Chinese vendors including Huawei from participating in national 5G rollouts due to unproven concerns that the Chinese government could use the equipment to facilitate cyberspying. Huawei has vigorously denied the allegations.

    The Prague Proposals also include recommendations such as the development of international, open, consensus-based standards for 5G security, a call for regular vulnerability assessments for all components and network systems, and active collaboration and threat information sharing by the participating countries.

  • Vietnam, Cuba to strengthen ICT collaboration

    Vietnam, Cuba to strengthen ICT collaboration

    The governments of Vietnam and Cuba have agreed to strengthen cooperation on communications, IT and cybersecurity.

    During a meeting with Cuba’s minister of communications Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, Vietnam’s minister of information and communications Nguyen Manh Hung pledged its continuing support for Cuba’s goal of developing the nation’s ICT capabilities, the ministry revealed.

    Vietnam’s telecoms ministry plans to share experience in areas including network security, 4G development, and ICT legislative frameworks.

    The Cuban government is planning to soon issue a decree governing security within the ICT industry and is seeking input on its contents.

    During the Cuban delegation’s visit, Vietnam’s prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also tasked the ministry with directing enterprises to study the possibility of boosting ICT trade in Cuba.

    Vietnam and Cuba have been collaborating on telecommunications and IT development for several years. Last year, the two governments signed an agreement to expand this cooperation to cover areas including the sharing of information on policies, legal frameworks, and vocational training.

  • Two thirds of large companies plan to invest in UC

    Two thirds of large companies plan to invest in UC

    When car rental company Hertz needed to take its unified communications (UC) to a new level, it teamed up with IBM and Ribbon Communications to make it happen.

    According to Monica Gionet, director of UC at Hertz, the company has, for the last 3 years, outsourced its IT transformation to IBM, from helpdesk to UC infrastructure.

    Working closely with the IBM and Ribbon teams, Hertz now enjoys simplicity with its UC solution on the cloud serving multiple locations globally, especially in the ease of scaling up and down according to needs and demands, and ease of use for its end-users taking calls and orders for car rentals.

    Many other businesses, large and small, are experiencing – or looking to experience – similar transformations, seeing the need to improve customer and employee experiences, enhancing workflows and productivity, and to enhance security.

    Over the past year, on the Asia Pacific service provider front, Hong Kong Broadband and Optus have launched Communications-Services-as-a-Service (CPaaS)-powered offerings. This represents a growing trend in which large service providers are turning to CPaaS solutions to quickly deliver their enterprise and developer customers carrier-grade, no-code to low-code, real-time communications (RTC) capabilities.

    Ribbon Communications, a global software leader in secure and intelligent cloud communications, recently completed a comprehensive research study it undertook to understand the purchase drivers and buying behaviors of SMEs and enterprises around the world.

    The results were first unveiled by Patrick Joggerst, CMO and EVP Business Development, in his keynote speech at Perspectives19 held in Washington DC this week.

    Ribbon’s global survey reached 4,800 decision makers in 23 countries at businesses ranging in size from 5 to many thousands of employees, asking questions aimed at understanding who these companies are buying services from today, how they use collaboration tools and video conferencing, how they are managing their IT and their adoption of Unified Communications. The companies represented a wide range of industries.

    Respondents were from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, the UAE, the UK and the US.

    The survey found that, of the organizations who have not yet invested UC technology, 68% of large (more than 1,000 employees) companies and 46% of small (1-20 employees) planned to adopt some form of UC in the next two years.

    The numbers were even more striking for mid-sized companies, with 67% of those with 21 to 100 employees and 71% of those with 101 to 1000 employees predicting the same timeframe.

    “Clearly, the UC value proposition resonates across cross-market and cross-industry no matter the size of the company,” said Patrick Joggerst, CMO & EVP of Business Development, Ribbon. “Our findings highlight the significant market opportunity to serve these organizations, and results also provided us with some unexpected findings….”

    For instance, UC adoption is more advanced (41%) in large companies than in small ones (10%), contrary to the view that smaller companies are usually the first to leverage new technologies.

    The research also highlights security’s key role in a comprehensive UC solution, with a staggering 56% of respondents admitting they have been victimized by attacks running the gamut from DDoS to robocalls, and 83% of respondents wanting their UC providers to be responsible for providing protection.

    Meanwhile, 28% of respondents have deployed or are already deploying SD-WAN. About three-quarters are familiar with the concept, and 17% are planning to deploy SD-WAN in the near future. Deploying SD-WAN with session border controllers (SBC) makes sense especially for securing and ensuring mission-critical communications.

    Additional findings include:

    • The UC market still offers a number of growth prospects — Ribbon estimates that the available US market comprises 85 million seats.
    • A significant number (39%) of UC adopters purchased their service from “traditional” providers (LECs in the US and national carriers in the rest of the world), with the next 30% of buyers evenly split between competitive carriers and IT services companies. Mobile carriers, on the other hand, only accounted for 4% of purchases.
    • The numbers change significantly for those who have not yet purchased UC services. Their stated preferences run to traditional providers (21%) and mobile carriers (16%), followed by cablecos, competitive carriers, equipment providers and IT services companies each accounting for 11% of stated intention.
    • Of the 83% of respondents who felt that UC providers should be responsible for the security of IP communications, 18% were willing to pay extra for this capability.
  • KT taps Samsung to expand PS-LTE coverage in South Korea

    KT taps Samsung to expand PS-LTE coverage in South Korea

    Samsung has signed an agreement with KT to help expand the telco’s public safety LTE (PS-LTE) network in South Korea, the vendor announced.

    The expansion deal will see Samsung provide KT with LTE network solutions based on 3GPP Release 13 in 10 major metropolitan regions in South Korea including Seoul by 2020.

    The expanded deal will also see the pair deliver what they say is the world’s first narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) service over the PS-LTE network to help prevent and respond to natural disasters such as fires and people stranded in remote, mountainous areas.

    In addition to LTE radio base stations that support 700-MHz, Samsung is providing KT with a virtualized core and features such as MCPTT solutions, RAN sharing, evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS), Isolated eUTRAN Operation for Public Safety (IOPS), and device to device (D2D) network solutions.

    For instance, D2D allows direct and undisrupted communications between any two devices without traversing radio base stations or core networks, even in areas where bases stations are not provided.

    Samsung said D2D and NB-IoT technologies will play crucial roles in public safety network by ensuring stable, seamless, and reliable network in unfavorable environments.

    “By acquiring innovative wireless communications from Samsung, we are able to aid in life-threatening situations where data traffic is severely congested or connection is completely out of reach,” said Yoon-Young Park, senior executive vice president and head of enterprise business group at KT. “These first-of their-kind networks help responders connect with those in need.”

    KT and Samsung have been collaborated since 2016. The pair deployed the first PS-LTE network in 2016 throughout Gangwon (Pyeongchang) province of South Korea.

    In 2017, the companies delivered LTE-railway service on a high-speed train traveling at up to 250 km/hour (155 mph) using MCPTT solutions.

    The two companies are now aiming to expand the PS-LTE network further into the metropolitan areas around the country, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Jeolla, Gyeongbuk and Chungnam provinces.

    South Korea’s three major carriers-KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus- launched full-fledged commercial 5G services in early April and racked up over 260,000 5G subscribers that month.