5G Not Captured Indoors... Wireless Station Repeaters Account for Only 6%

Compared to LTE 33%, Significantly Lower

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] As of the end of last year, only about 6% of the total 5G wireless stations operated by the three major telecom companies were indoor repeaters. This is significantly lower compared to the 33% repeater ratio for 4G (LTE).

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the telecommunications industry on the 18th, among the 460,000 5G wireless stations reported by the three major telecom companies as of December last year, 430,000 (94%) were outdoor base stations, while only 30,000 (6%) were indoor repeaters.

In the past, for LTE, out of a total of 2.31 million wireless stations, 1.55 million (67%) were base stations, and 760,000 (33%) were repeaters.

5G repeaters are devices that help enable stable 5G communication inside buildings. LTE repeaters cannot be used for 5G services due to the delay time caused during the conversion of analog wireless signals to digital signals.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT's communication service quality evaluation results at the end of last year, outdoor coverage of 5G services increased by 252.1% compared to the previous year, but coverage in multi-use facilities and in-building (indoor) areas increased by only 58.3% and 38.4%, respectively.

There are criticisms that the 5G quality evaluation has been focused on outdoor areas, leading the telecommunications industry to neglect improving indoor quality. The 5G service coverage maps released by the three major telecom companies also exclude indoor areas and only cover outdoor areas. It is also pointed out as a problem that the government’s communication service quality evaluation for multi-use facilities was limited to about 4,500 major facilities.