Ministry of Science and ICT Announces Telecom Service Quality Evaluation
Top 3 Telecom Companies Deploy 5G Covering 75.25% of National Land Area
Public Bus Wi-Fi Speed Improves 5.8 Times This Year
LG Uplus has surpassed KT in 5G download speeds in the Seoul area. This improvement in 5G speed is attributed to the additional frequency allocation.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency announced the results of the 2023 telecommunications service coverage inspection and quality evaluation on the 27th. This evaluation covered wireless internet such as 5G and LTE, as well as wired internet.
The average 5G download transmission speed among the three carriers was 939.14 Mbps, a 4.8% increase compared to the previous year. The speeds by carrier were SK Telecom at 987.54 Mbps, KT at 948.88 Mbps, and LG Uplus at 881.00 Mbps.
However, looking at 5G download speeds in the Seoul area, the ranking changed to SK Telecom (1101.37 Mbps), LG Uplus (1099.79 Mbps), and KT (1076.71 Mbps). Last year, KT’s download speed in Seoul was 935.86 Mbps, faster than LG Uplus’s 901.96 Mbps.
The Ministry of Science and ICT stated, "LG Uplus’s 5G speed in the Seoul area improved by 21.9% compared to the previous year due to the additional allocation of 5G frequencies."
However, among the total 400 inspected locations, LG Uplus had the highest number of areas with insufficient 5G service quality at 13, followed by SK Telecom with 10, and KT with 9. Areas with insufficient 5G service quality are defined as those where the download transmission success rate is below 90%, and even if 5G connection is successful, transmission speeds below 12 Mbps are considered transmission failures.
Current 5G Service Coverage of the Three Major Mobile Carriers (As of October 2023) [Source=Ministry of Science and ICT]
As of October, the outdoor 5G coverage area publicly disclosed by the carriers averaged 75,763.59 km², covering 75.25% of the national land area. Notably, the three carriers reported that they have established 5G coverage throughout all subway stations and lines nationwide, high-speed rail stations and lines, and all expressway routes.
Inspection of 5G accessibility at 180 major facilities showed an average 5G accessibility rate of 96.62% among the three carriers. A lower 5G accessibility rate indicates a wider service shadow area with weak 5G signal strength within major facilities.
Among major facilities, those with a 5G accessibility rate below 90% (facilities with insufficient 5G access) numbered 17 for SK Telecom, 28 for KT, and 15 for LG Uplus.
The average LTE download speed among the three carriers was 178.93 Mbps, a 17.8% improvement from the previous year. LTE download speeds by carrier were SK Telecom at 243.21 Mbps, KT at 171.31 Mbps, and LG Uplus at 122.28 Mbps.
The average download speed of public WiFi on buses, where mobile services are provided, was 602.31 Mbps (compared to 104.10 Mbps last year). This 5.8-fold increase is due to the full transition of wireless backhaul for bus public WiFi to 5G this year.
Among a total of 2,786 inspected locations, the number of WiFi usage failure locations by carrier was 54 for SK Telecom, 52 for KT, and 43 for LG Uplus. Usage failure locations refer to places marked as having WiFi coverage on the carrier’s coverage map but where usage is impossible on site due to equipment failure or other issues.
User continuous evaluation results measured with the same device as the government evaluation (Galaxy S22 Ultra) showed 5G speeds of 886.74 Mbps and LTE speeds of 156.05 Mbps.
Regarding compliance with speed limits after data allowance exhaustion on speed-controlled unlimited plans for 5G and LTE, all three carriers were found to adhere to the pre-notified speed restrictions.
For wired internet, user continuous evaluation results showed average download speeds of 982.66 Mbps for 1 Gbps plans and 492.94 Mbps for 500 Mbps plans.
Kim Kyung-man, Director of Telecommunications Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, "For locations confirmed to have insufficient quality through this evaluation, we will request carriers to improve quality and re-inspect improvements in the next evaluation to encourage quality enhancement. We will also urge carriers to reduce the quality gap between metropolitan and rural areas gradually."
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