LGU+ Ready... 5G Speed Competition Kicks Off

All Three Major Telecoms Launch Nationwide 100MHz Band 5G Service
Will a 'Turnaround' Occur in This Year's Government Evaluation?

Competition for 5G speed among the three major telecom companies is expected to intensify. LG Uplus has passed the government's implementation inspection, allowing all three companies to provide services using the same frequency bandwidth. A wider frequency bandwidth results in faster speeds. There is even speculation that the established 5G speed ranking of SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus from this year's government quality evaluation could be overturned.

On the 14th, a telecom industry insider stated, "Recently, LG Uplus completed the frequency allocation condition implementation inspection by the Ministry of Science and ICT."

[Image source=Pixabay]

Once the Ministry of Science and ICT's implementation inspection is completed, operators can use the corresponding frequency band. LG Uplus has finished the inspection and is reportedly proceeding with procedures such as change notifications. Unlike SKT and KT, which each use 100 MHz, LG Uplus had been providing 5G services with only an 80 MHz bandwidth. The 3.4?3.42 GHz bandwidth additionally allocated last July can now be utilized for telecom services. This means the three telecom companies will offer 5G services using the same 100 MHz bandwidth. To this end, LG Uplus invested 519.2 billion KRW in capital expenditure (CAPEX) in the first quarter, a 43.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

As the frequency bandwidth increases, download speeds also improve accordingly. After receiving the additional frequency allocation last year, LG Uplus began offering 100 MHz service starting in November in rural 5G joint network construction areas. However, in Seoul and the metropolitan area, where 5G subscribers are the most numerous, only the 80 MHz bandwidth was still used. Using the 100 MHz bandwidth nationwide is expected to significantly enhance the perceived service quality for LG Uplus 5G users.

With all three companies competing under the same conditions, a 5G speed competition will unfold. LG Uplus, which initially received only 80 MHz when first allocated 5G frequencies, had been trailing SKT and KT in the Ministry of Science and ICT's telecom quality evaluations, never rising above third place. In last year's evaluation, SKT's 5G download speed was 1002.27 Mbps, KT's was 921.49 Mbps, and LG Uplus's was 764.55 Mbps.

Competition is expected to be particularly fierce in Seoul and the metropolitan area, where the number of users is highest and quality gaps may widen. LG Uplus uses Huawei equipment in some parts of the 5G 3.5 GHz band in Seoul and the metropolitan area. Huawei, ranked number one in global telecom equipment market share, is known to have superior performance in the 3.5 GHz band compared to other companies. In fact, according to last year's Ministry of Science and ICT telecom quality evaluation focusing only on Seoul, the 5G download speeds of the three companies showed little difference even when only 80 MHz was used: SKT at 994.92 Mbps, KT at 935.86 Mbps, and LG Uplus at 901.96 Mbps. Since it is difficult to immediately replace equipment en masse or acquire additional frequencies, SKT and KT are expected to continue optimizing wireless quality to keep LG Uplus in check.