Minister Lim Hye-sook Requests "Nationwide 28GHz 5G Service" from the Three Major Telecom Companies

First Press Conference Held 5 Days After Inauguration
"Next Year Review... Establishing Policy Direction"

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] On the 5th, Lim Hye-sook, Minister of Science and ICT, stated regarding the activation plan for the 28GHz 5G service, "I met with representatives of the three major mobile carriers and asked them to provide services that the public can truly feel."

Minister Lim held her first press briefing since taking office at the Sejong City government office that morning and revealed this, adding, "By the end of this year, after the mandatory construction period (for base stations), I will announce the policy direction following an inspection next year."

The issue of building the 28GHz band 5G service, also known as the so-called 'Dream 5G,' is a sensitive topic for both the government and the three major mobile carriers. While the carriers find it difficult to accelerate base station construction due to enormous deployment costs and lack of content, the public's satisfaction with 5G services overall remains low. At the time of frequency allocation, the three carriers promised to each build 15,000 28GHz 5G base stations by the end of this year.

Minister Lim said, "Technically, joint construction of the 28GHz band is not a good idea," adding, "Each has its own network, and I heard it is not a good idea, but we have not yet examined it."

Meanwhile, on the 28th of last month, Minister Lim Hye-sook held a meeting with representatives of the three major telecom companies to discuss key 5G issues. Attending the meeting were Park Jung-ho, CEO of SK Telecom; Koo Hyun-mo, CEO of KT; and Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus. Discussions were held on the progress of nationwide 3.5GHz band 5G network construction and plans to activate the 28GHz band 5G service.

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