Starting This Year, 5G Communication Quality Evaluation... First Half Results to Be Released in July

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The government will begin evaluating the quality of 5G services starting this year to become the world's top 5G country. The results of the first half communication quality evaluation will be disclosed in July so that telecom operators can reflect them in their investment plans for the second half of the year.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 28th, the 5G communication service quality evaluation is conducted to provide users with information for selecting and using 5G communication products and to promote telecom companies' investment in 5G networks.

Considering that nationwide network construction by telecom operators is still underway since the commercialization of 5G last year, the Ministry of Science and ICT decided to start evaluations in densely populated areas such as Seoul and six metropolitan cities. The evaluation areas and targets will be gradually expanded thereafter.

In the first phase conducted this year, Seoul, six metropolitan cities, and major administrative districts of 85 cities will be included. In the first half of the year, evaluations will be conducted at more than 100 locations in Seoul and six metropolitan cities, and in the second half, at more than 200 locations including major administrative districts of 85 cities including Seoul and six metropolitan cities. In 2021?2022 (phase 2), all administrative districts of 85 cities will be evaluated, and from 2023 onward (phase 3), the entire country including rural areas will be evaluated.

Specifically, the evaluation will examine whether 5G service is provided in the evaluation areas, communication quality, and the LTE handover rate, which is the rate at which 5G service switches to LTE service. In particular, to assess the communication quality perceived by users, many evaluation targets will include spaces where users mainly use smartphones, such as large buildings and roads.

The results of this quality evaluation will be disclosed in July for the first half and in November for the second half so that telecom operators can reflect them in their investment plans for the second half of the year and the following year. In November, evaluation results of other services such as wired and wireless internet will also be announced.

Hong Jin-bae, Director of Communication Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "We hope this 5G service quality evaluation will provide users with accurate 5G service information and serve as an opportunity for telecom companies to compete in 5G network investment rather than subsidy competition in the market," adding, "Expansion of telecom companies' investment will lead to increased demand for domestic small and medium equipment manufacturers, resulting in significant upstream and downstream effects of investment."

The telecom industry is tentatively estimated to have increased its investment scale by more than 50% compared to 6.3 trillion won the previous year to accelerate the early construction of the nationwide 5G network last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.