Ministry of Science and ICT to Hold 'Bus Public Wi-Fi 5G Pilot Service Opening Ceremony and Demonstration' on 27th
Phased Introduction of 30,000 City Buses Nationwide by 2023
Announces Public Wi-Fi 'Advancement Plan'... 16,000 Sites to be Established and WiFi 6E Introduced
[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] In the future, city buses are expected to offer Wi-Fi services that are more than four times faster than the current speed. The government plans to accelerate the improvement of public Wi-Fi service quality by converting the Wi-Fi on 30,000 city buses nationwide to 5G from next year through 2023.
"Bus Wi-Fi, 4 times faster with 5G"... Nationwide expansion by 2023 following pilot service
On the morning of the 27th, the Ministry of Science and ICT held a 'Bus Public Wi-Fi 5G Pilot Service Opening Ceremony' at the main gate of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, and conducted a demonstration.
Starting from this day, the government will apply 5G backhaul (transmission network) to bus Wi-Fi, which had been serviced based on LTE, to improve speeds by more than four times through a pilot service on 100 buses nationwide. The pilot service will run for two months until December 26 and will comprehensively inspect service stability, communication quality, and user usage patterns.
The demonstration event, attended by Minister Hyesook Lim and Lee Won-wook, Chairman of the National Assembly Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, included experiencing 5G Wi-Fi service by making video calls inside buses operating after the pilot service launch declaration and hearing participants' impressions of the demonstration.
Minister Lim said, "The government and telecommunications companies have been working together to build a nationwide 5G network, and the introduction of 5G to city bus Wi-Fi is meaningful," adding, "I hope that citizens will use fast and convenient public Wi-Fi services in the future and that Korea will advance as a digitally inclusive nation where everyone can enjoy ultra-high-speed internet environments without discrimination."
16,000 public Wi-Fi spots to be established next year and WiFi 6E introduced... "Improving simultaneous connections and speed"
On the same day, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced the 'Public Wi-Fi Advancement Plan' to enhance the quality of public Wi-Fi services and improve user experience, including the transition of bus Wi-Fi to 5G backhaul.
The government has been building public Wi-Fi in city buses and public places nationwide to improve citizens' communication accessibility and reduce household communication expenses. Currently, public Wi-Fi provides free data at 57,000 locations nationwide, including 28,000 public places and 29,000 city buses.
However, as citizens' data usage patterns gradually shift toward high-capacity content, the need for faster high-speed services has increased. In the first half of this year, public Wi-Fi was used more than 24% compared to commercial Wi-Fi, with 4.06 billion connection attempts and 22,042 terabytes (TB) of usage, even amid social distancing measures. Additionally, the expansion of 5G infrastructure and the release of WiFi 6E, along with the development of ultra-high-speed communication infrastructure and technology, have matured the technical conditions for high-quality public Wi-Fi, which led the government to prepare the public Wi-Fi advancement plan.
To advance public Wi-Fi, the government will first convert city bus Wi-Fi to 5G. Starting with the pilot service announced on this day, the Ministry of Science and ICT plans to gradually convert the Wi-Fi on all 29,100 city buses nationwide from the existing LTE-based system to 5G backhaul by 2023, significantly improving the public Wi-Fi experience for citizens.
The construction of Wi-Fi in public places will also continue to expand. Next year, 16,000 public Wi-Fi spots will be established in libraries, health centers, parks, and other locations nationwide. The next-generation technology WiFi 6E will be gradually introduced to newly established public Wi-Fi to improve simultaneous connections and speed. Furthermore, about 400 densely populated public places such as professional sports stadiums and bus stops will be selected to pilot new ultra-high-speed data experiences by deploying 5G 28 GHz wireless backhaul and 10G internet backhaul-based Wi-Fi. Additionally, a demonstration of 28 GHz 5G backhaul-based Wi-Fi will be conducted on the branch line of Subway Line 2, and based on the results, the government will consider expanding its application.
Finally, to prevent inconvenience caused by different service names (SSIDs) in various regions, the government will promote phased service improvements through consultations with local governments. The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to gradually link access points built separately by local governments to the 'Public Wi-Fi Integrated Management Center (Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province)' operated by the ministry and negotiate to unify the service names scattered by local governments so that users can enjoy seamless nationwide service with a single login.
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