Stage Five Challenges the 4th Telecom Operator

Forming a Consortium with Shinhan Investment Corp.

Stage Five, a budget phone operator, has thrown down the gauntlet to become the fourth mobile carrier.

Stage Five announced on the 19th that it has established a new corporation called ‘Stage X’ (tentative name) through a consortium and completed the application for nationwide frequency allocation for a new 5G 28GHz operator with the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Stage X has set three major goals: ▲activating competition in the domestic telecommunications market ▲reducing household communication expenses ▲building an innovative ecosystem based on 5G 28GHz, and plans to establish itself as a company leading 5G technology at the national level.

Stage X aims to promote competition in various aspects such as service, pricing, and quality to alleviate the burden of household communication costs and enhance public benefits. It also plans to reduce the burden of device purchase costs. To this end, it is preparing to expand its own lineup of mid-to-low-priced devices, including the 5G 28GHz band, and has signed a strategic partnership with a Foxconn-affiliated company related to mobile device manufacturing.

Over the next three years, Stage X will build more than 6,000 wireless base stations at a total of 90 hotspots to offer ‘real 5G innovative services’ targeting both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. Considering the frequency characteristics of the 28GHz band, services will initially be provided to leading companies and organizations in various sectors such as universities, hospitals, stadiums, concert halls, and airports, and will be expanded after sufficient verification. During the verification period, the plan is to discover and commercialize innovative service models using this frequency band, creating success cases and revitalizing the domestic 5G 28GHz ecosystem. Ultimately, the goal is to contribute to securing national competitiveness in future information and communication technology (ICT) and to build technology development, business infrastructure, and ecosystems for leading the 6G market.

To this end, the consortium itself is solidly composed with IT-based companies leading each field. Stage Five, which has introduced innovative budget phone (MVNO) and roaming services through the simple communication platform ‘PinDirect’ and accumulated experience in devices through segment-specific smartphone and tablet businesses, is at the core. Along with leading companies and organizations in each field for actual business execution, Shinhan Investment Corp., a financially capable investor, is also involved. Shinhan Investment Corp. joined as an investor in Stage Five in September 2021 and has continuously played a role in financial underwriting and advisory since signing a comprehensive win-win business agreement.

Stage X will conduct verification processes together with the KAIST ICT Research Center. Inspired by living lab models from leading overseas universities and telecom operators, it plans to build Korea’s first 28GHz band-applied living lab within KAIST and expand it to be applicable to the research and development environment at KAIST.

It will also implement a 5G innovative service environment in collaboration with Yonsei Medical Center (Severance). Through this verification period, Yonsei Medical Center expects to usher in a major transformation into a digital-based smart hospital by implementing various innovative services such as 5G-based medical Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical imaging, and robots, and by expanding integrated services utilizing medical treatment, logistics, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Stage X plans to collaborate with major domestic stadiums and concert halls to discover communication business models suitable for K-content. Through the 5G 28GHz band, it will implement and provide a communication environment optimized for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) content, transforming these spaces into venues where audiences can enjoy diverse immersive content and differentiated viewing experiences.

By introducing the 5G 28GHz band at international airports, Stage X aims to provide fast communication speeds not only to domestic users but also to foreign visitors entering South Korea. The introduction of the 5G 28GHz band at airports by Stage X can contribute to strengthening the national brand image as a telecommunications powerhouse.

Stage Five, which will be the core of Stage X, is a tech-based core telecommunications operator. Since 2019, through regulatory sandbox projects, it has continuously proven its innovativeness in telecommunications and IT fields, such as being the first in the industry to introduce private simple authentication (Kakao Pay Authentication) during the subscription process. Recently, it has shown active infrastructure investment by building billing systems for the three major mobile carriers, partnering with Naver Cloud and major overseas telecom operators, and has completed technical reviews and business preparations for core network construction for full MVNO operations. The core network is also an essential facility for roaming cooperation with the three nationwide mobile network operators (MNOs). Therefore, if Stage X is allocated the frequency, it can be applied as is.

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