Ministry of Science and ICT Promotes Joint Asia-Pacific Response to Secure 6G Frequencies

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 22nd that it participated in the 4th Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) preparatory meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand until the 20th to prepare for the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). The WRC is the world's highest decision-making conference in the field of radio waves, held every 3 to 4 years.

The meeting was attended by 820 participants, including delegations from 28 member countries of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), and a total of 55 experts from the Korean government, industry, academia, and research sectors participated. APT is an international organization aimed at promoting telecommunications development and international cooperation on telecommunications network equipment and expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.

This meeting served as a platform to gather joint opinions from the Asia-Pacific region on the next agenda items of the WRC, including mobile communications, science, satellite, aviation, and maritime sectors. The final joint position of APT will be actively discussed at the 5th meeting to be held in Korea next year. The 5th APT preparatory meeting is an important meeting held ahead of the CPM meeting, which finalizes the reports to be discussed at the upcoming WRC. It is significant as it provides an opportunity to reflect Korea's position to the fullest. The CPM prepares reports (such as amendments to the Radio Regulations) to be discussed at the 2027 WRC based on next year's WRC agenda research results and country contributions.

At the meeting, Korea proactively proposed the need to discover 6G frequency bands, focusing on frequency bands where research on mobile telecommunications (IMT) usage has not yet been conducted, to establish a joint Asia-Pacific position on the next WRC agenda. Discussions were also held on new frequency allocations and operational conditions for satellite services such as Earth Stations in Motion (ESIM), satellite Internet of Things (IoT), and inter-satellite link frequencies.

Choi Woo-hyuk, Director of the Radio Policy Bureau, stated, "Since securing new 6G frequencies must precede the creation of new media services, we plan to continuously respond to secure and protect global frequencies centered on Korea at the remaining international meetings before next year's WRC."