Hwang Hyun-sik, LG Uplus CEO, "Significant Regret Over Delay in Additional Frequency Allocation Discussions"

Holding a Press Conference at MWC 2022

LG Uplus held a press conference on the afternoon of the 1st (local time) in Barcelona, Spain, where 'MWC Barcelona 2022' is taking place. The photo shows CEO Hwang Hyun-sik answering reporters' questions at the press conference held at the NH Collection Barcelona Gran Hotel Calder?n. Photo by LG Uplus

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus, held a press conference on the 1st (local time) at the 'Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022' held in Barcelona, Spain, and expressed regret over the delay in the government's additional allocation of 5G frequencies, saying, "The holding (stopping) itself is quite unfortunate."

CEO Hwang said, "As announced, it was concluded that 20MHz would be available, and a formal application for use was submitted. A research group and a forum were held, and everyone agreed that it was reasonable," adding, "It is natural that the public would benefit, but it is difficult to understand that the decision is not made and is delayed due to reasons other than the public interest perspective."

He also drew a line on the issue of performance differences between equipment manufacturers mentioned during the discussion on additional frequency allocation. SK Telecom and KT claimed that LG Uplus uses Chinese-made Huawei communication equipment in some metropolitan areas and argued that there is a performance difference between domestic and foreign equipment, which is unfair.

CEO Hwang Hyun-sik said, "Each manufacturer may have slightly different equipment development speeds or schedules, and I think it is not a big problem," adding, "I find it hard to understand how this escalated into an issue of fairness. I don't think it is a big enough issue to be reflected in frequency policy."

Meanwhile, LG Uplus plans to leverage extended reality (XR) content to expand its presence in the global market through this MWC. It signed a strategic collaboration agreement (MOU) for content supply with Zain Group, which supplies communication networks to seven Middle Eastern countries, and Oman’s top telecom company Omantel. It also plans to strengthen its strategic partnership with Vodafone UK.

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