South Korea was expected to be the first in the world to have a full, working 5G network, and the launch had been planned for the first three months of 2019. Now, as the deadline nears, the South Korean government has warned that it will almost certainly miss the target. Instead, an April launch is now being pitched.
Why does this matter to you? South Korea’s activity highlights just how new 5G is, and how much there is still to work out elsewhere in the world before it becomes a reality. At the beginning of March, it was reported local carriers SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus were all ready to start 5G services at the end of March. Now, in a press briefing held by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT, the government says it’s “much more desirable to wait.”
There are seemingly two main reasons for the decision to hold off on the 5G launch. The first is that the expected 5G smartphones are not ready. A source speaking to the Korea Herald said the
High prices
However, most concerning of all for those waiting to hear how much 5G will cost is that the government in South Korea rejected SK Telecom’s
In the U.S., carriers are all talking about 5G launches, and at MWC 2019 you couldn’t avoid companies promoting the next-generation network; but real-life details are still sparse. T-Mobile expects some cities to have
Samsung and LG were two of the biggest names showing 5G phones at MWC 2019, although other prototypes were also on display. Expected launch dates were not precise. Samsung said the S10